The Dragon King
by BlasterBlurby
Summary: Rewrite. Ulrike tries to summon Yuri on his 18th birthday, as planned, but things don't always go according to plan and now a team of Mazoku must go to Earth to retrieve him. They never expected their future king to already have his own crown. Yuram Pairing. Slightly AU.
1. The Beckoning Cat

**Author's Note:** Hello! Here's the newly rewritten chapter one! I hope you like it, and please review! Every review makes me write faster!

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The Dragon King

Chapter One: The Beckoning Cat

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Ever since Yuri could remember, he'd been different.

"Mom! Look, Mom! It's a Kappa*!"

"Oh, where is it Yu-chan?!"

"It's right there, it's waving at us!" Yuri said excitedly as he waved back at the scaly creature.

"There's nothing there. Stop lying, Yuri!" His older brother, Shori, scolded. Yuri wilted under his brother's stern gaze. He hated when Shori looked at him like that, it meant he'd done something wrong, like when he wet the bed. He didn't mean to see things that Shori couldn't.

"He's not lying, Shori." His mother beamed down at him. "I can see the Kappa too!" She waved out into the water. Yuri became excited that his mother could see it too. He looked to where the Kappa had been, but it was gone. "Hello, Kappa-san!"

Yuri felt the sudden urge to cry, but he was eight years-old now, so he held it in like a man should.

"It's not there anymore, Mom," Yuri said lowly, his face turning red and puckered. "You can stop pretending." Unable to hold back anymore, Yuri turned and ran away from the riverbank his family had been picnicking on, angry tears running down his face.

"Yuri! Yuri, come back! YURI!"

He'd always been able to see things others couldn't, but it had gotten so much worse since his family had moved to Hokkaido*. Now, he couldn't even leave his house without seeing something strange, like a Kappa. No one else ever seemed to see them, but once he had pointed them out, his mother would say she could see them too, and Yuri would be comforted that he wasn't crazy or cursed. But now he knew the truth. His mother had just been pretending to see the monsters, Yuri really was as weird as his schoolmates said.

Sniffling and rubbing at his eyes, Yuri ran blindly away from his family. He was too upset to be near them, and he didn't want them to see him cry. He didn't want his mother trying to comfort him after she'd lied, and Shori would just yell at him to grow up, and Dad wouldn't have anything to say because he was never around. Even today, which was supposed to be a family day, he had to leave to talk to his boss!

Suddenly Yuri tripped over something and went careening, face-first, into the dirt. He wailed harshly before he choked the sound back, scrubbing furiously at the tears that had now doubled with pain and humiliation. Whimpering into the grass, Yuri was too distraught to even get up from where he had fallen.

Something wet and rough scraped against his tearstained cheek.

"Mur-ow!"

Blinking away the tears, Yuri looked up. A calico cat stared back at him unblinkingly.

_"Mur-ow!"_ The cat batted his head with it's paw.

"G-Go away," Yuri muttered, pushing the cat away with his hand, though he felt bad about it. He just wanted to be alone.

Th cat hissed and swatted his hand, pricking the skin with it's claws. Yelping, Yuri finally sat up.

"Ow! What was that for?" The cat growled and glared pointedly at its side, where a muddy shoe-print matted it's fur. "Oh," He mouthed. This was what he'd tripped on. "Sorry," Yuri said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to trip on you."

The cat rumbled, still staring at him fixedly, it's two tails flicking irritably at it's side...Wait a minute!

"You're a Bakeneko*!" Yuri exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the fork-tailed cat. "Y-you don't exist, not really, so why do I see you?! No one else does!" The cat turned around, it's orange ears pinned to its skull, and slinked away down a forested path. Only then did Yuri realize his own surroundings. He was sitting in the middle of a crossroads on a dirt road. Above him the forest canopy grew so thick that he couldn't see the sky and the sounds of the river were gone. All he could hear was the wind rustling through the leaves

"Wh-what?" Yuri whispered his face pinched with confusion and dread. He was sure he hadn't run so far, and he had run along the riverbank. How could he have gotten here without noticing? Stumbling to his feet, Yuri tried to go back the way he came, but each path looked the same, and Yuri couldn't remember which one he'd used to get there.

"Mur-ow!"

Yuri turned and saw the Bakeneko sitting further down one of the pathways, beckoning to him with a black-tipped paw.

"Y-you want me to follow you?" Yuri gulped, thinking of the story about the Emperor who escaped death by following a beckoning cat. Did this mean that he'd die if he didn't follow it? Yuri glanced up at the trees, which creaked ominously at him.

**CRASH!**

With a shriek, Yuri dove after the Bakeneko, just as a thick tree limb fell where he'd been standing. Yuri's heart pounded in his chest as he stared the heavy branch that surely would have crushed him, if not for the Bakeneko beckoning to him.

"Rrrrrr." The cat rubbed itself against his legs, purring madly, and making Yuri feel awful for yelling at it.

"Sorry," He apologized meekly, leaning down to rub the calico's tri-colored head. The cat endured it for a moment before it slipped away, further down the path, glancing over it's shoulder at him. "Uh," Yuri glanced uneasily down the darkened path. "I hope you're sure about this, Mr. Cat."

"Murr-ow!" The feline insisted, causing Yuri to smile in spite of his fear.

Yuri followed hesitantly on his short legs, glancing warily into the trees, but unable to see anything. The Bakeneko trotted onward, it's two tails raised like opposing flags, one white and one black. Pale, ghostly fireballs sprouted from thin air, lining their path. As they traversed farther and farther into the wilderness Yuri began to hear music in the trees. Flutes, drums, and zithers played chaotically in such away that it sounded as if the musicians were competing against each other to be the fastest or the loudest, as the music got progressively so the longer Yuri followed the cat. Louder and faster. Faster and louder! Until finally, when Yuri thought he'd go mad from the cacophony of sounds, it all abruptly halted.

And he was there.

An ornate shrine that had fallen into disrepair stood towering over him, and Yuri couldn't help but backpedal, because a moment before, there had been nothing there but more path. Startled, Yuri watched as the Bakeneko slinked up the stairs and through the slightly open door. For a moment, his fear got the better of him, and he turned around to go back the way he'd came, only to find the path gone, and the tree line closing in.

Shivering, Yuri watched as a tree root inched forward, and then another. The trees' trunks hunched forward menacingly, their thin, knotted fingers reaching-

_"RRRR-OW!"_

Hearing the Bakeneko's caterwaul snapped Yuri out of the forest's trance and the boy immediately ran up the shrine's steps and past the door, where the trees' could not reach.

Slamming the door shut, the shrine was plunged into an inky blackness until the ghostly flames appeared once more to light the shrine. Yuri panted as he leaned his weight heavily on the door, trying to regain his wits. The Bakeneko twined itself around his feet and chewed at his shoelaces.

"Tama has taken quite a liking to you, hasn't he?" A voice hissed, like coals that are splashed with water.

Gasping, Yuri whirled around so fast that he stepped on the Bakeneko's tails.

"RRAAA!" It screeched as it leapt away from him and into an old women's lap, who sat on the shrine's alter. And Yuri at once knew this woman was too ugly and too frightful to be human. Her face was as craggy and foreboding as rock, but her eyes glowed like cherry-bright coals through the darkness. The heavy brocades she wore pooled around her body and made impossible to determine her shape. Her fingers, stick thin, reached out and tangled in the Bakeneko's fur. Drawing purrs from the feline as she scratched it with long, yellowing fingernails. The cat glared at him furiously.

"He'll get over it," The hag assured him, revealing her teeth to be as yellow as her fingernails.

"W-who are you?" Yuri asked shakily, his hand rested on the door so he could quickly escape if he had to.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Her round coal-eyes smoldered. "You wouldn't want your blood to be sucked out by the Jubokko*, would you? Those evil trees are a far worse fate than having a conversion with me, the great Arikura-no-baba*."

"Arikura-no-baba?" Yuri tried furiously to remember where he heard that name before. His mother often told him folktales at bedtime. "You're the witch that stopped a volcano from erupting."

"That was six-hundred years ago, but I admit it was one of my most notable exploits."

"This is crazy! I'm crazy!" Yuri yelled, tugging at his hair.

"It's not crazy," said Arikura-no-baba, picking a spider off her robes and eating it. "Its very normal, all things considered." The Bakeneko, Tama, rumbled in agreement.

"Normal?! How is any of this normal?!"

Suddenly the witch's attention was directed entirely onto him.

"You mean, you do not know?" Her voice was like the low gravely rumbles of an awakening volcano. Tama seemed to stiffen, its ears cocking back wearily.

"Know what?" Yuri asked warily.

"What you should have known from birth," Arikura-no-baba hissed from between her cracked, yellow teeth. "What your miserable mortal parents should have told you! That you are not human! That you are not even Mazoku! That you are the one we have waited for a thousand years to come again, the Imperial Dragon*!" Great gobs of flame poured from her mouth and Tama had to leap from her lap so he wouldn't be burned.

To Yuri it was like he was in a nightmare he couldn't escape. The only thing that kept Yuri from fleeing the shrine was the scratching noises he could hear on the other side of the door. The floorboards beneath his feet shook and the small shrine grew so unbearably hot that Yuri would have thought he was in an oven.

"Stop," Yuri gasped, feeling as if he couldn't get enough air to breathe. "STOP!"

The air was suddenly so much cooler that Yuri gasped in shock. The flames which had begun to scorch the walls were gone, and Arikura-no-baba was staring at him in awe.

"You are the Imperial Dragon. To be able to put out my flames-"

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!" denied the eight year-old stringently.

"Yes, you did," Arikura-no-baba hissed. "Perhaps, they have not ruined you yet, but you will need teaching soon." The witch muttered to herself pensively. "The Coalition will certainly agree, in removing the boy once and for all. The changes will start with puberty."

"P-puberty," Yuri stammered, embarrassed. "And what do you mean by removing me?! Remove me from what?"

"From Bob's influence," Arikura-no-baba's eyes glittered gleefully.

"Bob?" Repeated Yuri. "What does my dad's boss have to do with this?"

"Everything!" The old woman snarled. "Bob is the one who assured the Coalition that you would be adequately prepared if you stayed with your birth family, but he has lied to us and to you! You know nothing at all, and the fault lies with the traitorous Mazoku, Bob!"

"Wait a second," Yuri interrupted, holding up a small hand to halt the witch, "I don't understand any of this! Dragons? Demons? None of that exists. You don't exist! Shori said so!"

"Of course I exist, fool! I'm right in front of you!" She snapped, but then gave him a considering gaze. "You must be told, and now is as good a time as ever. You seem to know a bit about folklore, boy, tell me, how did humans become civilized?"

Yuri blinked, but his mind, cultivated by years of listening to his mother's stories, readily supplied the answer. "A Dragon, right?"

"Yesss," She hissed, her coal-eyes narrowing like a pleased cat. "A Dragon came down from the heavens and taught a human how to read and write and live with honor, and that human spread the Dragon's teachings to all other humans, but why would such a mighty being, such as a Dragon, pass on it's teaching to humans, who, at the time, were little more than monkeys in the mud?"

Yuri winced at the witch's description of humans, but listened on intently.

"It is because Dragons birthed humans, and were their protectors. There are many ideas on what the Dragons must have mated with to produce such ungainly creatures, some say pigs, others say slugs, but what is really important is that humans are intimately related to Dragons."

She paused, in case Yuri had any questions, but the eight year-old was incapable of speech at the moment. The human race came from Dragons, like he'd come from his mom and dad? That was unreal.

"This was before the islands split from the mainland, but once they had, a human woman birthed a mighty Dragon unlike any before it. It's power was so vast that all bowed their heads in respect to it, except for its father, who became the first Emperor. On its foot were four claws, rather than three."

An Imperial Dragon, thought Yuri.

"The Dragon brought about a golden age for humans and Yokai* alike, and had many children, but none as powerful or unique as it. When it died, there was much lamentation. The people's grief was so great that it lasted for fifty generations. When the final tear was shed, and people forgot their sadness, a Dragon child was born to a human woman. On it's foot were four claws.

"Ever since, when an Imperial Dragon passes on, its successor is born to a human woman once fifty generations have passed. It is mostly believed to be a woman who is pure of heart, but there's no true evidence to this. Tell me, boy, is your mother pure of heart?" The witch queried sarcastically.

'No,' thought Yuri balefully. 'His mother had lied to him. If someone was pure of heart, they wouldn't lie, right?'

"When your predecessor died, we waited many long years until your birth. The Coalition sent Tama and I to bring you to where you belong, but we did not anticipate your father being what he was." Arikura-no-baba idly stroked Tama's fur as she spoke.

"My father?" Yuri asked softly.

"Mazoku are demons that came from a world not our own. They migrated here centuries ago, purposes unknown, and settled amongst the humans. They were not so different from humans except for their formidable magic, that is until they bred with the humans to the point that they hardly had any magic at all. Your father happened to be close to the Mazoku King, Bob, and so delayed our efforts."

"So Bob, my dad's boss, is a demon king? And my dad is one of his minions?" asked Yuri in disbelief, but excitement also began to bubble up inside him. That was so cool! Maybe if Shori knew what Dad was, he wouldn't scold Yuri so much for being different.

"Yes," Arikura-no-baba nodded. "Well put, boy."

"Mur-ow," Tama agreed.

"My name's Yuri," he muttered, but the witch gave no signs of hearing him.

"Bob convinced us that you would be safe and well cared for among your parents. He also promised us that your heritage would never be a secret to you, but he lied to usss." She and the Bakeneko hissed in unison. Both of their eyes slowly taking on a terrifying red glow. "But we will fix that, won't we? They will never sssee you again, and they will regret ever crosssing usss!" Yuri watched with rising terror as the witch lifted into the air and floated towards him. The heavy brocades parted to reveal clawed, scaly feet, and Arikura-no-baba's coal-eyes lit with orange flames, her mouth agape while smoke poured out like bulbous, black snakes sent to trap him in their coils. One of her yellow, finger-nailed hands reach out as if to snatch away his face.

Yuri screamed and all went dark.

* * *

Yuri jolted out of bed, yelling and sobbing. His mother was immediately there cooing and comforting him. Telling him that it had all been a bad dream, that she and his father had found him asleep on the riverbank and had brought him home. She apologized for lying to him, but explained that she was only doing it to make him happy. All she wanted was for her baby to be happy.

He eventually calmed down enough to eat dinner, but refused to be alone anywhere for weeks. Shori scolded him for letting his imagination get the better of him, but Yuri was too freaked out about his dream.

His father began to spend more time with them, and Yuri was happy about that. A month after the incident, they moved back to their old home. Dad insisted that his business was over in Hokkaido, and that there was no reason to stay. Yuri was just glad that he wouldn't see weird things all the time. They made him remember his nightmare.

He was sure it was just a nightmare, right?

* * *

*Kappa- A famous water monster with a water-filled head and a love for cucumbers.

*Hokkaido- Japan's largest and least populated island.

*Bakeneko- A demonic cat that is said to have many powers including: shapeshifting, flying, talking, walking on two legs, creating ghostly fire, eating humans, and turning fresh bodies into zombies. Any cat that lives a hundred years, weighs one kan, or grows its tail too long, may become a Bakeneko. The famous "beckoning cat" was a Bakeneko.

*Jubokko- A vampire tree that sneaks up on travelers and sucks their blood. If you cut one of their branches they are said to bleed.

*Arikura-no-baba- An old woman with supernatural powers who lived in Takayama. She used prayer to stop the eruption of a mountain after it had been rumbling for seven days, and turned the hot water of an onsen cold by throwing a horse's hoof into it.

*Imperial Dragon- The symbol of the imperial family in both China and Japan. With four toes instead of the standard three, it is said to be the most powerful of all dragons. May also be called a Lung.

*Yokai- Creatures from Japanese mythology.


	2. The Demon's Night Parade

**Author's Note:** Angst alert, people! This isn't your happy-go-lucky Yuri! Also check your inboxes, I send back replies to all of your reviews right before I update.

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The Dragon King

Chapter Two: The Demon's Night Parade

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_A monster of fire and smoke reached out to snatch him. A man's back shielded him. A terrifying battle of slashing wind and burning flames. Strong hands grabbed him, lifted him, told him he was safe. A shrine burned in the distance as caterwauling shrieks chased them through the darkness and back into the light of day._

**ERR ERR ERR ERR**

"Ugh," Yuri groaned as he slapped ineffectually at his alarm clock. His sweaty hand slipped off it twice before he finally was able to silence it.

"Happy Birthday Yu-chan!" His mother cried as she burst through his bedroom door.

"Mom!" Yuri groaned, hastily pulling up his bedsheets to cover himself. "A little privacy, please?"

"Sorry, Yu-chan," she twittered. "But its not everyday that your baby turns fifteen!" She smiled brightly at him, before she lent down and pecked him on the cheek, smoothing back his hair with her hand.

"Thanks, Mom," said Yuri, looking away. His mom was probably the best mom in the world, but being babied all the time could get old.

"I'll just go finish breakfast up while you get ready," she said cheerfully as she left the room.

With a sigh, Yuri sat up and stretched. Today was the last day of school before summer break, and therefore packed with a lot of useless classes that no one wanted to be at. Yuri had finished all of his exams yesterday, but he still had to attend today so he could present his history project. He was fairly confident that he'd get a good grade on this one.

Yuri had allowed himself a few more minutes under the shower than usual, and now had to rush to get dressed in his school uniform. Grabbing his bag, Yuri blew into the kitchen, sat down, and started shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he could. Shori wasn't up yet, so he wouldn't have to listen to a lecture on table manners.

"Slow down, Yu-chan!" His mom giggled, "Your father and I want to have a chat with you when you get home from school, before your birthday party. Do you want to invite any friends?"

Yuri gulped down the last of his orange juice before answering.

"That's fine Mom, and no, not this year." Or any year for that matter. Yuri had never had many friends and the few he did have were more along the lines of acquaintances. Not the sort you'd invite to your home.

"Oh, well...Happy Birthday Yu-chan!" His mother called out as Yuri hastily left the room. It kind of hurt that his dad hadn't even dropped his paper to look at him, but Yuri was used to the distance between him and his father. He didn't hate him for it, in fact Yuri felt that his doting mother more than made up for the coldness, he just wished it was different.

With his pack slung over his shoulder, the teenager quickly mounted his bike and sped off. Glancing at his digital wristwatch, Yuri saw that he had thirty minutes to get to class, which was usually how long it took to bike to the school. He'd get there on time as long as he resisted the impulse to watch the baseball team practice.

Out of the corner his eye, Yuri saw an Ashimagari* trip someone, but quickly looked away. As he passed by a Sushi stand, the paper lanterns grew eyes and mouthes and grinned at him. Crossing the street, the teen barely avoided running over Keukegen*, which he would have mistook for someone's dog, had it not been for it's two extra legs. Yuri just took a calming breath and tried not to notice all the strange things that seemed be following him.

Living in a city, Yuri would almost never see a monster, but lately the things were coming out of the woodwork. Literally! When he'd gone shopping with his mom the other day, hands had reached through the floor of the supermarket and tried to grab at his ankles!

He skidded to a stop in front of the bike rack, and hurried to lock up his bike and get to class. His first teacher of the day, Takami-Sensei, didn't like him very much and made a big deal out of it if he was late, even if it was a throw away day.

As he suspected, the teacher had little more to add to the curriculum, and was merely going through motions, as were the students. Yuri sat off to the side where he could gaze out of the window at the baseball field. Wishing he could be out there catching, rather than sitting inside a room full of people who thought he was psychotic. Takami-Sensei himself had made such a convincing argument for why he should be on medication that the rest of the staff were convinced. Luckily for him, his mother absolutely refused to have him medicated, but it only furthered everyone's belief that he belonged in a mental institution.

The class passed slowly, but without incident. His next class was only half full, so when he sat down by the window, all the other teens sat as far away from him as they could. It hurt a little, but Yuri was used to it. He just tried his best to watch the baseball practice and keep his mind off things.

He'd played baseball before when he younger, and it had been something he'd loved doing, but then his coach started to say awful things to one of his teammates who wasn't very good at running the bases. The kid had asthma and the coach was blaming him for losing the game. Yuri just couldn't take hearing the abuse, so he beat his coach up so bad with a baseball bat that he put him in the hospital. The man didn't press charges, but he'd been banned from playing school sports.

After that he'd gotten a reputation of being violent and unstable. Added to that his ability to see things other people couldn't, well, there were reasons no one wanted to sit by him.

Classes passed in a blur and a lonely lunch period came and went before it was finally time for his history class. Their finally project had been on folklore and it's impact on society, something that Yuri had some considerable expertise on. He had done most of the work and he did most of the presenting while his partner stood there trying to look useful. Yuri felt kind of bad for pushing the girl out of the project, but this was the one exam grade he'd probably ace, and he wanted it to be good.

His teacher clapped enthusiastically at the end, and Yuri retook his seat to listen to the other presenters until the final bell rang, and it was time to leave.

Three o'clock, plenty of time to make it home for his parent's talk before the birthday dinner. Yuri refused to call it a birthday party when only his immediate family were going to be there.

When he got his bike, however, he found the tires slashed and the handlebars bent. The rear tire looked as though someone had stomped on it, and the reflectors had been ripped off. This had been the bike Shori had gotten him for Christmas.

Knowing that whoever had done this was probably hiding somewhere, watching his reaction, Yuri bit his lip and kept the furious tears back. He undid the lock and walked off with his mangled bike, his back as straight as he could stand.

* * *

With his bike as ruined as it was, it took hours for Yuri to get home. And as the sun began to sink and cast the day into twilight, Yuri felt as though he were coming unhinged.

From each corner of his eye he could see movement, but when he'd finally give in and look, there'd be nothing there. Yuri knew it was just the demons playing tricks on him again, but this time, the oppressive feeling of being followed was overwhelming. A flighty instinct, something deeply ingrained in the animal mind, was urging him to flee and escape. Yuri tried his best to reign this instinct in. His demonic visions were rather like dogs. If he were to give in and run, they would certainly give chase.

So instead, Yuri willed himself to walk as swiftly as he could, trying to ignore the hundreds of eyes he felt focused on him. There were still quite a few people out and about, and Yuri didn't know if he should be relieved or worried about that. He didn't know if the demons would be held back by the humans' presence, or if they would try to hurt them as well.

**Doom! Dooom! DOOM! DOOOM!**

The teen shuddered and broke out in a cold sweat. This was music straight from his worst nightmares. Those wretched drums that strove towards the climax. Other instruments joined in, starting low but growing in pitch and speed.

**Sa-saa! Sa-saa! Sa-SAA! SA-SAA!**

When Yuri finally turned the corner on the street where he lived, he found it to be empty. Now a strange chant rose through the discordant music.

**Ma-chi! Ma-chi! Ma-CHI! MA-CHI!**

_March._

Unable to do anything but, Yuri turned around, and faced his aggressors. At the terrible sight before him, Yuri's mouth dropped open in a gasp.

The Demons' Night Parade*, was the first impossible thought that came to mind. For surely, if it were true, Yuri was about to die. And even though fear pounded through his being, Yuri could not help but stare for a moment in awe.

Raising like a tidal wave above the street, were hundreds, if not thousands, of demons. A few among them rattled, banged, or blew on their respective instrument, but each monster's eyes were glaring straight at him. And how many eyes there were! Round bulging eyes, tiny eyes that crowded their owner's face, pale narrow eyes, and darkly dreaming eyes!

Backing up a few steps, Yuri noticed the streetlights begin to die, one by one. Fearing what would happen should the last light failed, the teen turned and ran for his home.

The demons chased after him. Gnarled fingers tangled in his hair, briefly, before he ripped himself away. Long tentacles tried to trip him, but Yuri jumped and dodged. The drums boomed and banged in sync with his racing heart. A big-headed demoness in a kimono appeared in front of him, her short arms spread to catch him.

"Ah!" Yuri yelped as he ducked beneath her reach, stumbling away from an Ashimagari trying to entangle itself in his legs. Merely a few houses away from his home, a creature was able to latch itself onto his back, and though its arms seemed thin and small, its weight was nearly too much to bare.

"GET OFF!" Yuri shouted, prying at the thing's stick like fingers until they broke. The creature squealed in pain and fell away, just in time for Yuri to dive between the legs of a massive demon. Coming out the other end, Yuri ran for all he was worth to his front door. He fumbled to turn the doorknob, and a sudden wind howled in his ears and pulled at his limbs, as if it would pick him up and toss him back into the horde. Pulling the door open, he dove inside, and kicked it closed before the monsters crowding the stoop could reach in and drag him back out.

Yuri laid slumped against the floor, for a moment, trying to recapture his breath. His thundering heartbeat and the buzzing in his ears was almost loud enough to drown out his mother's whimper.

"Yu-chan."

Filled with dread, Yuri looked up from his place on the floor. His parents and brother were sitting at the kitchen table, still as stone. In the chair across from Shori's sat a man he did not know, though his back was turned to Yuri, so he could not be sure. It was the creature, who sat next to his brother and across from his empty chair, that made Yuri sick to his stomach.

"It has been a few years since we last met, boy."

"Mur-row!"

* * *

"Yu-chan, it's okay, Mommy's here-"

"Oh do be quiet," Arikura-no-baba hissed. "The boy is nearly a man. He does not need to be talked to like some infant." Her voice was as Yuri remembered it in his dreams, water on hot coals.

"What do you hope to achieve by this, Arikura-no-baba?" asked the man that Yuri didn't recognize. He was a tall, broad shouldered man, with greying hair and a stern face. Yuri could not see his eyes through the man's sunglasses.

"Justice," she hissed, her coal bright eyes sparking dangerously. Yuri stood and those intense, inhuman eyes shifted to him. "Come and sit, boy. We have much to discuss. I think your parents wanted to have a word with you as well? This will be a night of revelations for you. Surely it'll be best to take the news sitting down," the witch mocked. The chair, in which he usually sat in, slid out from the table, as if by magic.

Feeling as though he had no other choice while this demon held his family captive, Yuri sat down. Through the windows, Yuri could see the monsters outside leering at him, pressing their ugly faces against the glass.

"Now, who wants to start?" She addressed the table, stroking her calico cat's fur. "Who will be the first to tell the truth? Come now, you surely do not wish _me_ to tell him, do you?"

"What do you want us to say," his mother challenged, her face brave and her words bold.

"Whatever you were intending to tell him," Arikura-no-baba snarled, digging her yellowing nails into the feline's fur until the cat screeched and leapt from her lap. Yuri flinched.

"Son," his father spoke for the first time, "We intended to tell you something today. Something that we also told Shori on his fifteenth birthday, something that my father told me on my fifteenth birthday. You, Yuri, are not completely human." His father, in a show of closeness that they had never had, reached across the table and took his hand. "We are Mazoku."

"Mazoku?" Yuri echoed, staring uncomprehendingly at their joined hands. Where had he heard that word before? It was like something from a dream.

"Its not so terrible, Yuri," his father consoled. "We're not much different that humans. Your mother is human herself."

_"They were not so different from humans except for their formidable magic, that is until they bred with the humans to the point that they hardly had any magic at all."_

Yuri was confused by the thought that ran through his head. Where had he obtained such information? The sentence seemed so familiar, like the word Mazoku, but somehow he couldn't connect the dots. Could he have forgotten?

"You are the same person that you were yesterday," Dad continued. "It's just that now you know your heritage."

"Yes, Yu-chan!" Confirmed his exuberant mother. "Now you just know how special you are!"

Yuri bit his lip, still staring at his father's hand around his. He wanted to pull his hand away, but felt that he didn't have the right to. His hand started to sweat, Yuri started to sweat, and then he realized that everyone was beginning to sweat.

"Now he just knows how special he is?" Arikura-no-baba ground out, like the tremor that comes before the quake. "He has no idea how special he is! How long we have waited!" Flames spouted from the corners of her mouth as her expression turned livid. "I should have known you had no intention of telling him! Not after your treachery!"

"He's too young," the older man beside him spoke, inscrutable behind his sunglasses.

"Too young? Hah!" She spat. "Traitors and liars always have their excuses, but they can never console the one they betrayed. Does it make you feel any better, boy, that the people you trusted most lied to you, because they think you too young to know the truth? Do you feel anymore inclined to forgive them?"

No, Yuri thought, he hated it when he was lied to, but what more could his parents possibly be keeping from him?

"I thought not," Arikura-no-baba's eyes narrowed in cat-like pleasure, "No, Bob, for once in your miserable life, tell the boy the truth of why you lied to him about his heritage. Tell him why he sees the things he sees. Tell him about that night."

"No."

"'No,' he says! No!" The witch gave a squealing laugh. "You're as stupid as you are stubborn if you think that you can trick this boy again. You are a fool if you think you can possibly defeat me again, not with the entire Demons' Night Parade at my back. Even if I were to fail, they would not."

"Fail at what?" asked Yuri, wanting to know if his family was in mortal peril

"Why, to bring you home, of course." The old witch looked at him expectantly.

"That is enough!" The man, Bob, commanded. He looked as if he wanted to stand, but whatever force held him to the chair kept him there. "I am honor bound to protect this child until his destiny is fulfilled and his destiny does not include Japan or Dragons," said Bob sternly in a tone that brokered no refusal. The witch, Arikura-no-baba, only laughed at him.

"Did you think, in your overwhelming wisdom, that you could ignore it?" She snarked, "Did you think that he could ignore it. That boy is more powerful than your feeble, little mind could ever imagine! Would you have him deny his very nature, because it is inconvenient for you? You think that is protection? It is slavery."

Yuri's head spinning so fast, it was like he was playing catch up. Surging out of his seat, and hardly noticing that he was not glued down like the others, Yuri slammed his hands down onto the table top. "I don't understand any of this! What do you mean, my nature? And power? I'm not powerful at all!"

"You are, boy, you are ssso powerful."

"My name is Yuri Shibuya, not boy," Yuri growled, fed up.

"Yesss," The witch hissed, her eyes narrowing and her lips parting in a strange glee, "'Yuri' it is."

"Yuri," His father interrupted, "Do not speak to her."

"Father, what is this?!" Shori hissed, but a stern look from Dad silenced him. It did not silence Yuri.

"What do you mean, my nature?" He repeated, making the witch clap her hands happily, the cat jumped on her lap once again. The beast stared at him through yellow eyes that he remembered from his nightmares.

"It is so tiring to repeat all that I told you seven years ago, I'd prefer it if you just remembered." Before Yuri could do anything, the demon leaned over the table and grabbed his head between her hands. Pain ripped throughout his being, and he couldn't help but scream in agony. It was as though a dam had broken in his mind. Yuri could remember everything about that night seven years ago. He remembered how Tama saved him, and how Arikura-no-baba had tried to tell him the truth. He recalled how frightened he'd become when she tried to take him away, but then how a man, who he now recognized as Bob, fought the witch and Bakeneko off. How Bob told his parents that it would be best if he only remembered that night as a bad dream.

Gasping, Yuri fell back into his seat once the witch had released his head. The others shouted and made threats towards Arikura-no-baba, but she did not seem to notice. She was to busy watching his reaction.

"Everything had made sense," Yuri finally said, staring at nothing. The sound of his voice seemed to silence everyone. Even the leering horde outside the home paused to hear his words. "Seven years ago, everything had finally made sense. I wasn't crazy or a freak. I-I was given peace of mind, and you took that away from me. Why?" A furiously sad tear slid down his cheek.

"We thought it was for the best, Yu-chan," his mother cried.

"But it wasn't," Yuri said bitterly. "Do you know what its like to see things no one else can? To feel like you're alone even if you're in a crowded room? To not even know why you feel that way! Thats what you took from me that night!"

"Yuri," Shori hissed. "What are you saying? These are monsters!"

"No, they're not!" Yuri immediately defended them. "Tama saved my life twice that night, and Arikura-no-baba was the only one to tell me the truth! I don't care what they look like, they aren't monsters!"

"Hoo hoo hoo," Arikura-no-baba hooted. "How fast the tables turn, Mazoku! I told you your lies would be your undoing! You will never trick Yuri again."

The demons outside the house cheered and stamped, causing the whole house shake.

"There's still so much I want to know," said Yuri, almost to himself.

"I will teach you, we will teach you." Arikura-no-baba watched him intensely. "Come home, Yuri. It is the only place you will find the answers to your most fervent questions."

"Yu-chan, no!" Mom begged, trying with all her might to stand up from the chair.

"Do not agree Yuri Shibuya," interrupted Bob. "Once you do she will spirit you away and you will never see your family again." The witch rounded on him practically spitting with anger. Tama, himself, leapt onto the table and growled at the man.

"As if your words mean anything! Spirit him away, like some weak human? We can not force the Imperial Dragon to do anything against his supreme will! If he wishes to return here, than he will! Though I cannot see why he would!"

"Yuri, I forbid you from leaving!" His father said desperately. Shori seemed to straining at the magic that bound him.

"They have no power over you," Arikura-no-baba spoke to him, "It is your choice." She held a gnarled hand out across the table. One of the same hands that used to haunt his dreams.

His choice. It seemed obvious to him.

He took her hand in his.

* * *

*Ashimagari- A spirit which entangles the legs of travelers.

*Keukegen- A small doglike creature covered entirely in long hair. Is said to cause illness.

*The Demons' Night Parade- Legend has it that every year the Yokai will take to the streets during summer nights. Any who sees the procession dies, unless protected.


	3. The Slit-Mouthed Woman

**Author's Note:** Hey, hey, hey! The way I spell character names will be the way they're spelled on wiki. I usually make up any creatures from Shin Makoku. I will also remind you guys that if you review as a guest I can't reply to your reviews. Review replies are in everyone's inboxes.

* * *

The Dragon King

Chapter Three: The Slit-Mouthed Woman

* * *

**BAAAD OMEN!**

Ulrike was puzzled, and rarely was she so puzzled. As a priestess of the Original King, there was little that she did not know nor could not divine through her abilities. It was just her luck that her powers would fail her now.

Although Shinou, the Original King, assured her that the new maou Yuri Shibuya was still alive, she could not sense him, let alone draw him out of his world and into this one.

"Are you sure, Your Majesty?" Questioned Ulrike hesitantly. The petite priestess peered at the translucent globe she used to locate souls, searching for the bright light that would indicate the new Maou's whereabouts. She had been searching for days, but still could find him.

_"Positive. I would have felt his death if he had died,"_whispered the Great One into his priestess' mind. _"Perhaps we will have to try a more...Direct approach." _Without words Shinou conveyed his plan into Ulrike's mind. When she had first been initiated as priestess, after her pedagogue, Odine, retired some years ago, thought transferals between the Great One and herself had confused her greatly. They still did at times. It took a few moments before Ulrike could correctly interpret Shinou's wordless thoughts. Odine had assured her that over time, she and Shinou would be able to think as one solitary being.

That scared her sometimes.

"That would be very dangerous, Your Majesty. Not even you know all the dangers that world presents, yet you suggest sending an escort party through?" It was unprecedented to say the least.

_"It is our only option. We have only barely been able to keep the wolves at bay until the Maou matured. We cannot avoid it any longer; Yuri Shibuya must be called home."_

With a sigh, the deceivingly child-like priestess knotted her fingers in concentration. Even if they sent a search party onto Earth, that world was just as vast, if not vaster, than this world. Finding the Maou would be a nearly impossible task without her abilities to pinpoint his location. It seemed unrealistic to her to expect less knowledgable Mazoku to succeed where she had failed.

The Original King chuckled in her ear, unseen and unheard by anyone else.

_"Send them to the Earth Maou. He will know."_

And with that last piece of advice the Great One's voice faded away. It had become harder and harder for Shinou's spirit to speak directly to Ulrike over the last three years and she was growing worried. If Shinou's spirit was truly fading she would need to act fast and safely ferry the new demon king to this world before the power to do so was lost to her.

Biting her lip, Ulrike turned and exited the chamber. She needed to inform the Ten Nobles of this.

* * *

The news had gone over better the she had hoped, and she was optimistic about the Ten Noble's choices for the search party. Sir Conrart Weller, the second son of Queen Cecilie, was the obvious choice to lead this adventure. He had been the one to ferry the Maou's soul to Earth. Hopefully, he had left a favorable impression on the Earthly Mazoku.

"So we have to go track down some idiot through human territory?"

Wolfram Von Bielefield would not have been one of her first choices, but the young lord had insisted that he would go. Although Ulrike could not be certain of his intention, she suspected that he wanted to assess the threat this new Maou was to his brother, Gwendal von Voltaire. The young Bielefield had made much noise that it was Gwendal who should ascend the throne.

"Wolfram! How dare you call His Majesty an idiot! I'm sure His Majesty will be the most regal, the most charmingly gentle, the most courageous and the most-," Gunter continued on like that for awhile and Ulrike sighed with relief that most of the Ten Nobles had agreed that Gunter Von Christ was needed here. One difficult person on this trip would be more then enough.

"In a sense," Ulrike replied to Wolfram, "But it will be very different from anything you have every experienced before. Earth can be a very dangerous place to the reckless." The young noble seemed to scoff at her warning, but there was a keen intelligence in the Mazoku's eyes. Ulrike knew that there was more to the prince than met the eye.

"How will we find him?" Yozak Gurrier asked. The tall, muscular agent leaned against the wall of the room, his expression inscrutable. Ulrike knew little about him, other than his being an agent of the Maou, half-human, and a war hero.

"I will be sending you directly to the Earth Maou," The priestess responded, "He will assist you."

"I do not think these three are suitable to first greet our new Maou," the regent, Stoffel von Spitzweg, declared. "There is but one true Mazoku among them, and my nephew is anything but courteous!" A few other nobles seemed to agree, but others seemed infuriated by the regent's words. Wolfram's uncle was among them.

"You dare question my nephew's competence!"

"Does human blood make our Maou's son any less!" Another Noble spoke up in defense of Sir Weller.

"I was only suggesting that the party should be more balanced," Stoffel defended.

"Perhaps His Lordship thinks," Another of Stoffel political rivals spat, "That the group should consist of men loyal to him, so that His Majesty would be swayed in his favor!" That set off another volley of arguments that seemed to be all to common theses days among the Ten Nobles.

Ulrike despaired of what this division could bring in the future.

"How would they be getting there," started Gwendal, one of the few nobles who seemed unaffected by the other's squabbling, before being interrupted by Gunter von Christ.

"More importantly why was I not chosen to find his most stunning majesty?" the lavender haired lord wailed.

"Both you and lord Gwendal are needed here in Shin Makoku until his majesty returns," answered Ulrike diplomatically, "And to answer your question Lord Gwendal, I and His Majesty will combine our strength to ferry the search party across to the other world. I will direct the transportation so you will arrive as close to the Earth Maou as possible. As for the language barrier I believe Lady Anissina has a solution."

"Behold my latest invention!" exclaimed the red head, completely unaware of the waves of dread washing over the others as she handed out the ear buds. "It is called 'let-me-understand-you-better-kun!' It will translate any language you come across!"

Ulrike smiled indulgently, "Yes it was very clever of you to create such an invention within such a short time."

"Aren't I? If you would wait to depart for a few days I could have a multitude of helpful inventions you could-," Anissina started.

"NO!" shouted everyone else in the room including Ulrike.

Suddenly embarrassed, Ulrike gave a polite cough and said in quieter voice, "No, that would be quite unnecessary, as time is of the essence and the search team must depart immediately.

"Now," the small priestess addressed the search party, "if you three will follow me, I will prepare you for the journey." Turning, Ulrike walked back into the temple room with the three Mazoku trailing behind her.

"Wait!" Stoffel shouted, seeming to have noticed that decisions were being made without him. "There must be more Mazoku that are pure of blood!" Like squabbling Monkisers*, the other Nobles immediately began to shout around him.

Spotting a foot soldier standing guard at the edge of the room, Ulrike snagged him by the arm.

"You are a Mazoku, are you not?" Ulrike asked, and the man nodded hesitantly. Smiling brightly up at him, she pushed him toward the others. "There Stoffel, a man of pure blood, I hope that satisfies you." Ulrike ushered the four out of the room, past gaping faces and ruined egos.

* * *

"If you can't bring the brat over here now, how would sending us there help?" Questioned Yozak as he tugged on the white gown the priestess had made him wear. The other three were in similar garments with nothing but their swords strapped securely to their backs.

"It is because we, being Shinou and I, suspect that an outside force is influencing our ability to connect with Yuri. Once that outside force is negated I will be able to bring him back, but if worse comes to worse and you cannot remove the force one of you could always grab onto His Majesty and signal to me to pull you back. If you can touch him, being able to sense him in my mind will be a moot point."

"But what if, whatever is keeping you from sensing Yuri, will keep you from sensing us when we encounter it?" Conrart wisely suggested.

Ulrike nodded solemnly. "In that case you will be forced to negate the effects of whatever is responsible, whether it be a person, place, or thing."

"How can we signal to you?" asked Yozak, still tugging fretfully on the shapeless garment.

"If you are able to find His Majesty, you will have to channel some Maryoku into this," she handed a thick-chained pendant to Wolfram, as he was the only one of their party that had a hope of summoning enough power to activate it. Maryoku suffered greatly in the human realm, and much Earth was wholly human. "It won't need much, just a spark, but it will radiate with magical energy. I will be able to feel the brief flash of power and will immediately pull everyone back."

"What a weakling, to be caught in some trap," growled Wolfram, as he grudgingly excepted the heavy pendant and slid it over his head, but then faltered when he felt an odd sensation encompassing his body. The blond-haired Mazoku yelped as he felt a force stretching him downward.

Ulrike, finally finished with the spell, watched as the Mazoku sank through the floor.

"Good luck," the exhausted priestess spoke to the empty room. "You will need it."

* * *

"Am I beautiful?"

Kuchisake-onna* peered sinisterly at the girl-child. She must have wandered away from her preoccupied parents, such a naughty child. Naughty children were her favorite kind of prey, especially when they were pretty little girls, who would grow up to be beautiful women.

"Am I beautiful?" She asked again, a little annoyed that the child hadn't answered yet.

"I don't know," the girl whimpered confusedly, stumbling away on her short, little legs. Kuchisake-onna appeared in front of the child again, as if out of thin air and even closer than before.

"Am I beautiful?" She asked again, using her physical presence to force the girl deeper into the alley. The girl whined piteously, still not answering. Kuchisake-onna did not like it when her victims wouldn't play her game. Her hand clenched about the knife she held, concealed in her pocket. Her other hand reached up to pull away the surgical mask that concealed the lower half of her face.

"Am I beautiful now?" She grinned at her with a wide, red mouth that stretched from ear to ear. A gift from her late husband.

The girl screamed, and screamed. That is, until Kuchisake-onna lashed out with her knife and slit the child's throat. She laughed and giggled as she stabbed and sliced at her victim's face, leaving nothing but red mess for those 'preoccupied parents' to find.

Still laughing drunkenly, she stumbled down the darkened street, going in no particular direction. She hadn't bothered to put back on her surgical mask, she didn't care if she was seen. She traipsed through the city singing nonsensically, swinging her knife at the high notes.

And then she felt _HIS_ eyes on her.

She barely had time to look up, and see a shadow crouched atop a building, before she had been taken by the throat and slammed against a wall. Gasping in horror, Kuchisake remembered that she'd left her surgical mask off, and hastily covered her face with a sleeve. Having this man look upon her bare face, was unacceptable.

"Yuri-sama," She gasped past the hand at her throat, "What brings you here this pleasant night?"

"You." His black eyes were narrowed and hard as diamonds. His voice was harsh and bubbling with fury. Kuchisake-onna found that so attractive. If not for her (hideous, disgusting) face, she would have pursued the Yokai male in front of her with all of her fervor. Perhaps, if she slashed up the other demonesses' faces, he would look at her as the least disfigured one.

"And what could I have done to draw your most sought-after attention, Yuri-sama?" She asked as demurely as she could with the Yokai's hand at her throat. Maybe, she hoped, Yuri-sama felt something for her. It had been a long time since she'd felt another man's touch.

"You have been killing indiscriminately, Kuchisake-onna" He replied tightly, just as tightly as the hand he held to her neck, "I've come to put a stop to it, before anyone else dies."

Scowling furiously, Kuchisake-onna replied, "Too late!"

With a furious howl, the Yokai threw her across the street and into a car. Metal screeched and crunched as the car crumpled under the force of the dragon's throw. The car itself, pitched to the side before it rocked back onto its four wheels. Using her sleeve to hide her grimace of pain, Kuchisake-onna delicately extracted herself from the wreckage.

"It was a child this time," she gloated, drawing her knife behind her back, "A very pretty girl, but she's not so pretty now!" Kuchisake-onna cackled at the raw look on the dragon's face.

"You must be stopped," Yuri-sama said, almost to himself. From his side, he drew a long katana from a black sheath, filling her with dread. There was no chance that she could fight a katana with only a petty knife. Fear entered her, and she wondered if she should run, but she doubted she'd be able to evade the dragon for long. Maybe she could talk her way out of this.

"Why do you care what happens to humans?" she reasoned, trying to look coy and seductive behind her sleeve. "They are nothing but play things to us Yokai. Would you deny me my sport?"

"Murdering children isn't sport," he hissed, taking a striking stance.

"We aren't humans," she shrieked desperately, staggering backwards, her hand clenched tightly around the knife behind her back. "You can't judge us by their standards! Your human morals are clouding your senses! The Council wouldn't agree!"

"The Council has agreed," he replied, advancing forward, his katana at the ready. "Your reign of terror is over, Kuchisake-onna. You have endangered us all with your actions, and you show no remorse."

"Remorse!" She spat, her back against the wall. "Humans deserve nothing but contempt! They did this to me! He did this to me!" Her hand final fell away, revealing the gruesome, eternal wound that stretched like smile across her face. Her once beautiful face. She waited for Yuri-sama to cringe like every man did when they looked upon her hideous face, but Yuri-sama stared unflinchingly.

"Your husband deserves contempt, not children or women more beautiful than you. Your late husband may have ruined your face, but it was your own choices that ruined your soul."

Letting out a piteous whine, Kuchisake-onna fell to her hands and knees, feeling sick to her stomach. Her knife clattered harmlessly to the ground. The one man who looked on her face without disgust, thought she was ugly on the inside. How utterly ludicrous.

"Understand," Yuri-sama spoke softly as he took his position perpendicular to her, "It is not that I can't forgive you, it is that I couldn't forgive myself if I spared you this night, only for you to kill another innocent."

She did not lift her head from where it was bowed. She didn't even notice the tears dripping from her eyes.

"I can't stop," she pleaded to the pavement, "Please, don't ask me to stop."

The katana rose, glinting in the moonlight, it's steel almost turning white.

"I won't." Was his soft, sympathetic reply.

The katana fell.

* * *

*Monkisers- A monkey-like creature that inhabits parts of Shin Makoku.

*Kuchisake-onna- A woman, who was unfaithful to her husband, as revenge, the husband slit her face from ear to ear and asked, "Who will find you beautiful now?" In the seventies there was mass hysteria caused by supposed sightings of this Yokai, who would cover her mouth with surgical mask. She would walk up to someone and ask if she was beautiful. If they said no, she would kill them. If they said yes, she would take off her mask and ask again. If they said no, she'd cut them in half, and if they said yes, she'd cut their faces like hers. It is impossible to escape.


	4. The Places Between

**Author's Note:** Hey guys. I did receive a nasty review a couple days ago, and of course it was a guest account, the nasty reviews always come from guest accounts, and I commend anyone with the guts to leave a bad review that the author can actually respond to in private. This is not saying that all my guest account reviewers are bad, most of them are great even if they have different opinions than me. Please enjoy the latest chapter everyone. This time we'll be getting insight into Yuri's state of mind.

* * *

The Dragon King

Chapter Four: The Places Between

* * *

The courtyard was quiet when Yuri landed. Carefully removing his shoes, he slid open the screen and slipped into his room. Hopefully, Baba-sensei would be asleep by now.

"Is the bitch dead?"

Yuri jumped as the candles lit themselves and Arikura-no-baba stepped from the shadows. He really should have expected something like this after three years of living under the woman's tutelage.

"Kuchisake-onna," Yuri corrected tightly, "Is no more." Turning his back on his teacher, Yuri began to take his bloodstained uwagi* off.

He had no right to be all noble. He had killed Kuchisake-onna, but even so, he would defend her honor. Kuchisake-onna died with more dignity than any would have expected from her, and Yuri would speak for her now that she could not. It was only right.

"Good," his teacher snorted. "That one was tricky. I half expected you to return with a knife in your back."

"Is that all?" Yuri interrupted. He didn't like to make light of an execution. It smacked too much of cruelty. He understood that the Yokai, like most ancient civilizations, thought of executions as entertainment, but he refused to think that way himself.

"Yesss," Yuri could hear her voice hiss like water on coals, "Although I am curious whether you still plan to go to your family's home tomorrow." His family's home, not his, never his.

"I do," Yuri paused before he removed his hakama*, wanting the demoness out of his room before he completely stripped.

"Why do you bother with those wretched souls? Have they not proven time and again that they only want a human Yuri?" Arikura-no-baba hissed, suddenly much closer than before. Yuri remained as still as he could. "That they are not capable of accepting you, as you are?"

"My mother accepts me," Yuri argued though he kept his voice soft. Arikura-no-baba seemed to be in one of her moods.

"It's not enough," she said shortly.

"It is for me."

"It shouldn't be," said Arikura-no-baba, clucking her tongue. "You deserve so much more. You would obtain so much more, if only you demanded it."

"I don't ever intend to dictate anyone's feelings, everyone has a right to feel as they do." Yuri was tense. He hated these conversations. He knew, or at least hoped, that these temptations were only a test of his will, but he didn't like to even think of what his powers could achieve in the hands of someone with less honor. It made him doubt, and that is why Arikura-no-baba did it. She was of the opinion that only fools were so sure of themselves.

"Hmm," she hummed, "We'll see how well that goes for you tomorrow. Good night, Yuri." And she turned left his room, sliding the screen closed with a sharp sound.

Yuri sighed wearily as he finished stripping and pulled out his futon. Sleep was not forthcoming that night. He spent most of it thinking about poor Kuchisake-onna, who only wanted to be loved despite her flaws.

* * *

"YUUU-RIIII!"

Yuri jolted up from his futon and punched the noise in its face. Wait, noises didn't have faces.

"Yow! What was dat fer?!" Tachi whined from behind the hands he clutched protectively over his face. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Yuri growled irritably. It was too early for this shit.

"What are you doing here, Tachi?" He asked with all the patience he could muster, which was very little, but then again, he'd barely gotten any sleep last night.

"Baba-chan told me to wake you up," The white-haired weasel said innocently. As if he would ever call Yuri's teacher, Baba-chan to her face. Most Yokai had a healthy fear of Arikura-no-baba, and for good reason.

"What for?" Yuri huffed, pushing off the blankets so he could stand.

"Oooh," Tachi cooed femininely, and Yuri blushed, suddenly realizing exactly how undressed he was. "Sleeping naked, Yuri! You naughty boy! Trying to seduce me, no doubt." The Yokai grinned deviously. "I've seen it all before, though."

"Go bother someone else!" Yuri snapped, hurrying to pull on some clothes.

"So sensitive," the Kamaitachi* lamented. "Baba-chan wants you down at the training yard. Said something about you needing to work on your offense and being more aggressive." Tachi gave him a sour look while he rubbed his bruised nose. "As if you need any more aggression."

"Sorry," Yuri offered, noticing how bad his friend's nose had started to bruise.

"It's fine," said Tachi, waving him off.

"No, its not," Yuri argued, reaching over to grab Tachi's face. "Here, let me heal it." He pulled his friend's face close to his, and began to lick at the Yokai's bruised nose.

"Not that I don't appreciate your super, incredible dragon powers, but this is kind of ridiculous."

Yuri rolled his eyes and withdrew his tongue. Tachi's nose was covered in his spit, and though it was pretty gross, the bruises were already fading away.

"Tell me about it. There's a reason most people don't know my saliva has healing powers. Can you imagine all the perverts that would line up outside my door so that I could lick their wounds?"

"Definantly don't tell Tsukuba," The weasel demon snorted. "Poor bastard would probably start hurting himself on purpose."

"Ugh," Yuri groaned. "Don't even say that!"

"Don't worry, Shibuya. I'll protect you from the big, bad Tengu*," Tachi teased, ruffling Yuri's hair.

"Why are you here?" Yuri sighed, hiking his sheathed katana over his shoulder. He was hungry, but he doubted that Baba-sensei would be patient enough to let him eat before starting his morning training. It was probably for the best anyway. The intense training tended to make him throw up.

"I told you," said Tachi, "Baba-chan wanted me to wake you up."

"I meant why are you here, in my house?" He asked as he slid the wall to the courtyard open.

"I came to wish you happy birthday," The weasel boy clapped him on the back, "And to tell you that there's gonna be a party back here with your name on it, in case things don't work out at home." Tachi's hand squeezed his shoulder and his pink eyes radiated sympathy.

"Thanks, Tachi," Yuri replied quietly.

"No problem," Yuri's shoulder was pushed so hard that he stumbled forward. "You'd better get out there quick, before Baba-chan blows her top."

He shot the Yokai a mock glare, but quickly hurried to the other side of the courtyard, where an archway led out into the training grounds. He tried not to get distracted by the sakura trees, which had just begun to blossom, and quickly ducked into the kudzu-covered archway, which seemed to stretch on forever once you were in it. Yuri knew it was an illusion, but he'd been amazed when he first traversed it. Most days he would take his time walking in the wildly overgrown tunnel, but today he sprinted through the puddles of dappled light unheedingly.

You could never tell when you were at the end of the tunnel, and it always seemed like the end of it was a long ways away. He had once tried to count his strides, but that hadn't worked because sometimes the tunnel was longer and at other times it was shorter.

Once he'd broken through to the other side, he was kilometers away from the mansion that he and Arikura-no-baba lived in, though Yuri had hardly ran a quarter of that distance. A wormhole had been Yuri's first thought, and it was the most apt description in human terms, but Arikura-no-baba had been vehement that it shouldn't be called that. She called it a place between and she refused to hear any different. To appease her, Yuri called it that in her presence, but in his mind it was a still a wormhole.

"You're late!"

Yuri watched grimly as Arikura-no-baba stood up from the stump she'd been sitting on. Her scaly bird-feet digging furrows in the wood. Tama, a calico cat, was perched on her shoulders. Yuri didn't say anything, Arikura-no-baba didn't tolerate excuses, but he knew what was expected of him.

He unsheathed his katana, and steeled himself.

* * *

By the time he stumbled up the back steps of his family's home, Yuri was exhausted and covered in blood and sweat.

"Yu-chan!"

"Mom," Yuri replied, too tired to say much else, and even his head hung listlessly from his shoulders.

"Yu-chan, you look terrible!" His mother fretted as she took him in her arms. Yuri tried to pull away. He didn't want to stain her clothes. "Is that blood?!"

"Don't worry," said Yuri, "It's not mine." He tried to pull away again. "Mom, your clothes..."

"Oh, to hell with my clothes!" She declared, taking his blood-splattered face in her soft hands, "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Yuri tried to smile. "I just need to shower before we have dinner."

His mom eyed him shrewdly.

"Honest!"

"Okay," she sighed, "Go take your shower and I'll finish up dinner. I'm making your favorite, curry!" Yuri couldn't help, but smile then. His mom was always cooking curry, but he found it much more enjoyable now that he didn't eat it everyday. "Your father and Shori will be home soon, so we'll eat as soon as you're ready."

"Okay, Mom."

"And I'll lay out a change of clothes for you."

"Okay, Mom."

Yuri slumped into the bathroom. If there was one thing he missed, it was indoor plumbing. Hardly pausing to strip off his clothing, he slipped into the shower and under the spray of hot water. There he rested against the tiled wall, watching as pinkish water slid down the drain, until finally the water ran clear.

He shut the shower off with a sigh and tripped getting out of the tub. He caught himself on the counter, his fingers clutching the laminate so hard that it started to crack.

'Get it together,' Yuri scolded himself. 'It wasn't that bad.'

Reaching up, Yuri wiped the condensation away from the mirror. The reflection that stared back at him was hardly the boy he was three years ago. He'd grown a lot, but he was still a few inches short of his brother's height. His shoulders had gotten broader, his hair was longer, his muscles were more defined. Nothing too drastic for a growing boy, but unfortunately dragons had their own unique attributes. From the crown of his head sprouted two thick horns, as black as ebony, and as twisted as a Kitsune*'s words. The pointed ends of his ears poked obtrusively past his wet hair, and Yuri ran his sharp claws through his hair to try to cover his ears, but the effort was in vain. He knew that his brother had a hard time excepting the physical manifestations of his dragonhood, but there was little Yuri could do to change. At least snake-like pupils were barely noticeable when surrounded by his black irises.

"Yu-chan," his mother knocked at the door, "I've left a change of clothes in your bedroom."

"Thanks, Mom." As soon as he heard her leave, Yuri rapped a towel around his waist and hurried into his old bedroom. Spotting a pile of folded clothes on the nightstand, he quickly dressed in the black jeans and t-shirt. At first he thought they were Shori's, but the clothes were too new and fit too well.

It was unreal, being in his old bedroom again after so long. Posters of baseball players hung on the walls, players whose names he couldn't even remember. His bat and catcher's mitt rested forlornly in the corner of the room. School textbooks and half-completed homework littered his desk and unmade bed.

"I've kept your room just as you left it." Mom stood in the doorway, a sad smile on her face and holding herself tight, as if she'd fall apart if she didn't. "Aside from a little dusting now and then."

Yuri throat closed and he didn't know what to say. He was a horrible son.

"You look so handsome, Yu-chan," she continued, "I had to buy you new clothes since you've grown so much. I'm sure I've gotten the sizes right, but maybe you don't like that brand anymore? I don't know what kids like these days, but if you tell me I'll make sure to get some." She rambled, and in two strides Yuri crossed the room and grabbed his mother in a tight hug. She clutched desperately at his back and what started as sniffles, quickly turned to wet sobs. "I'm just so glad that you're home! Please don't leave, Yu-chan!"

"Mom," Yuri choked helplessly. He hated how much this hurt her, but he couldn't stay in this house. He had too many obligations with the Yokai. Knowing he could not grant her wish, Yuri instead, held and rocked his mother until her tears dried up.

"I know I'm being silly," She finally said when she stepped away from his embrace. She untied the apron and used it to dab at her eyes. "I just miss you so much Yu-chan. I wish we could be a family again, and though I know that day will come, I can't help but be a bit impatient." She smiled a silly-me-smile and looked up at him with eyes so filled with hope and surety. Yuri wasn't nearly so confident that their family would ever be whole again, but if his mother hadn't given up, then how could he?

* * *

Yuri Shibuya was very conflicted about his big brother Shori.

"They've gotten bigger," Shori commented immediately, eyeing Yuri's curving horns with apparent distaste.

Yuri would always love his brother, but from the way Shori acted, the young dragon suspected his brother loved him a little less with each physical change.

"Yeah," Yuri muttered feeling shame curdle in his stomach, "but Baba-sensei says they've stopped growing."

His brother really made him feel like a freak.

Yuri fingered his smooth, ebony antlers nervously. He tended to do that when he thought of Shori's initial reaction to his, at the time, newly developing horns. He himself had been uneasy about the rough lumps that had began to grow from his skull, but Arikura-no-baba had been so pleased that Yuri had started to feel proud of them. That pride had quickly soured once Shori told him they were grotesque.

"That's good," reaching out his brother tapped a trimmed fingernail against one of the tapering horns. "Now that they won't grow anymore you should cut them off."

Did his brother not understand how much it hurt when he said things like that? He had no love for them himself, but he could hardly just saw them off! It would be like tearing off one of his arms or legs. Shame began to turn into anger, but he tried to keep a hold of his emotions, for his mother's sake. This night didn't have to end in a screaming match like his last visit had.

"That's absurd Sho-chan! Now you leave Yuri alone about his horns this instant," berated Mom. Turning away, Shori returned to his seat at the table while their mother ushered him over to his own seat.

His mother bent close to his ear when she pushed his chair in and whispered, "Don't mind him Yu-chan. I think they are beautiful."

Yuri blushed as his mother straightened and pulled playfully on the pointed tip of his left ear, taking her own seat at the rectangular table. His father was already sitting. His face was even more lined than Yuri remembered it and his hair was now a mix of salt and pepper.

"Happy Birthday Yuri, how have your lessons been?" his father asked brightly, too brightly. Yuri already knew what his Mazoku father thought of Baba-sensei's tutelage.

"They've been fine," Yuri answered briskly, knowing his father was asking only out of courtesy and not any desire to know the sordid details of his apprenticeship. Not that he'd ever tell them about the darker side of his life on Mt. Monsuta.

Looking down he noticed his plate was already filled with curry. Curry seemed to be the only thing his mother was capable of cooking, though he found that he liked eating it now that he didn't have to have it everyday.

"Oh come on Yu-chan! Give us more details," his mother encouraged, "What are you learning now?" She tried to sound enthusiastic, but Yuri could detect the hint of worry in her voice. No wonder, considering the state he was in when he got here. He should've cleaned up before he came, but pride had blinded him. Damn Arikura-no-baba! That witch was trying to sabotage the already tenuous relationship he had with his family.

'Not that it needs to be.' Yuri slumped under the oppressive atmosphere.

"I've been mostly working on my swordsmanship." He answered carefully. "But I've also been learning how to use my aura," Yuri started and then continued when he saw his mother's riveted expression, "A Yokai's aura can be used for many things, but for the most part its used to hide from humans."

Almost immediately Shori's interest seemed piqued.

"So you could hide the horns and ears with this aura thing?" demanded Shori, as if he couldn't comprehend why his younger brother would choose not to hide them.

"Sho-chan! I said to leave your brother alone about his horns!" reprimanded their mother.

"Its fine Mom," Yuri muttered to her, before locking his pitch black eyes on his brother. "Shori seems to misunderstand. Auras can't be used so precisely, they could make a human's eyes skip past a Yokai, not notice them, but to conceal just one part of the body? Thats not possible."

"You say that like you wouldn't do it, even if you could!"

He stood, knocking his chair to the floor with a clatter.

"Is this what you want Shori?" spat Yuri. "Is this what you want Father?" His anger grew with each second of enduring their disapproving gazes. "Is this what you want?!" He shouted when no answers were forthcoming.

Yuri's hand came down to smack the table in anger, and the dinnerware jumped. Startled his family scooted their chairs back as drinks toppled and splashed across the flowered tablecloth.

"Do you want some hornless human you can pretend is the old Yuri?! You two are not humans yourself, yet you reject anything that doesn't fit within those oh-so human parameters!

"Mom," he cried indignantly, pointing to the distressed woman, "Mom is a human herself, but is far more excepting than either of you! How can you judge me?!" The infuriated Yokai demanded, honestly baffled.

Standing, Yuri's father tried to calm him. "It's not that Yuri. It's just—," his father seemed to be at a loss.

"It's just what Dad? It's just what?!" Yuri scoffed. "Don't even bother lying. Don't you know I can tell?"

"Yu-chan, please." His mother whimpered. Seeing his cheerful mother so distraught drained all the fight out of him. He was almost sorry for yelling at his dad and brother, but then Shori opened his mouth.

"I don't understand what the problem is Yuri. If you have the choice to hide those, those abnormalities," he said the word like it was dirty, "and live a normal life, why wouldn't you?" He demanded.

"Shori," growled Yuri, the warning clear in his voice. If there had been any Yokai in the room, they surely would have been cringing under the weight of his aura.

Completely oblivious to it, Shori barreled on.

"If you looked human you could come back home and go to school again. Everything could go back to how it used to be. Don't you want to be human again?"

His big brother really didn't get it, Yuri doubted he would ever get it, but he was done trying to make Shori understand. It made him frustrated, and it made him feel sad.

"That's just the thing Shori. I'm not human, and unlike you and Dad I don't want to pretend I'm something I'm not." Yuri felt emotionally exhausted.

He loved his family, but what he said was true. He did not want to go back to pretending. How could he when he had already tasted the freedom of being who he was, without restraint or ridicule? A caged bird could never be content once it had lived beyond it's prison.

Turning away from the table he walked to the back porch in silence.

"Yu-chan, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Mom." Yuri pulled her into a quick hug. "This just isn't working. It was stupid to think it ever would."

"Shibuya Yuri, don't you dare give up on this family!" She gripped his shoulders and held him so that he had to meet her eyes. "I know its hard–Lord–I know its hard, but this is worth fighting for Yuri. Our family is worth the disappointment and the hurt, because I know someday we'll be all the stronger for it."

"How can you still believe that?" asked Yuri, desperate for an answer like he was starving for it. "After everything that's happened, how can you possibly think this will get any better?" She took his face in the cradle her hands formed.

"Only when things are so desperate is hope at its the strongest," she smiled so sweetly, "A bit of human wisdom, Yu-chan. I still hope for that day when we all understand each other."

"How wonderful a day that would be," Yuri smiled, half wistful and half indulgent.

"I know its coming, sweetheart, I don't doubt it for a second." Behind her shoulder, Yuri saw his father sitting silently at the table, staring into his plate.

"I have to go," He said quietly.

"I know," she sighed, "Come back as soon as you can, Yu-chan. Mama misses you."

"I will."

Night had already fallen and Yuri could feel the cool breeze on his skin. Instantly he knew what he wanted. What he needed. As always there was a soft glow that quickly turned brighter as Yuri's form began to grow and elongate. It had never hurt Yuri to change into his other, truer form. If anything it felt like having a nice stretch after getting out of bed in the morning. He had once asked Arikura-no-baba what the change looked like, thoughts of horrific werewolf movies dancing in his head, but he was relieved to find out that the bright light kept people from seeing much else but an outline.

Within moments Yuri could feel his new serpentine body settle into itself. Ever since his first change, Yuri's dragon form had been growing like a weed and he was now nearly fifty feet long from snout to tail. Like his horns Baba-sensei thought his dragon form was done with the growth spurts.

Yuri stretched and uncoiled carefully in the suddenly too small yard.

"You're beautiful, Yu-chan," His mother called out to him. "Don't let anyone tell you different."

"Geez, Mom," Yuri muttered, embarrassed. It always felt a little weird when he talked in his dragon form. He launched himself into the air, drifting upwards on air currents and his mother's laughter.

* * *

*Uwagi- A kimono-like jacket worn in Japan. Is mostly used as the top half of a martial arts uniform.

*Hakama- Traditional Japanese clothing that is tied at the waist and falls to the ankles.

*Tengu- A wise, bird-like demon.

*Kitsune- A fox spirit, known for its shape-shifting abilities. The more tails a kitsune has, the more powerful, wiser, and older it is.

**A lot of people have been asking so I'll tell you that my main reference for the creatures in this story is wikipedia-list of legendary creatures from Japan. Inspiration comes from many anime and manga that I've read, not any one in particular.


	5. The Fox-Spirt's Treasure

**Author's Note:** I hope everyone had a happy holiday! Sorry this one took a while, exams were backbreaking this year. The beginning of this chapter is taken from the original TDK.

* * *

The Dragon King

Chapter Five: The Fox-Spirit's Treasure

* * *

Dr. Rodriguez couldn't believe what he was doing. Who washes dishes in the bathtub? How he got roped into doing the dishes when he was a licensed doctor, he had no clue.

His boss Bob, the Maou of Earth, disliked any semblance of a home life in his office buildings, so instead of doing the dirty dishes, left over from staff meals, in a sink they had to be done in a bathtub.

And of course, he would never share his opinion that bathtubs were homier than sinks. He liked living far too much.

So there he was, kneeling in front of a large tub up to his elbows in soapy water, scrubbing away, when there was an audible _pop!_ and suddenly there were four men squashed together in the bathtub. The displaced suds gushed out of the bathtub and drenched him with dishwater.

"Get your foot out of my stomach Weller!" shouted the smaller blonde haired boy.

When a large brown haired man tried to accommodate him there was flurry of slips and water splashed out just as one of the men was suddenly plunged beneath the soapy water by the weight of the red headed man.

"Argh!"

"Ouch! Watch it!"

**Gurgle!**

None of the other three seemed to notice that their comrade was being held underwater by their combined weight. Snapping back to awareness Dr. Rodriguez reached over and grabbed hold of the blonde kid and yanked him from the tub and onto the tile floor.

"Agh!"

Not even pausing, the doctor reached into the bubbly water, and gripping the red head's arms, began to pull. The other one seemed catch on and helped the doctor drag the bulky man off the drowning one.

Without the weight holding him down the drowning man quickly surfaced and began taking great gasps of air. Again, with brown haired man's help, he was able to pull the remaining man from the bathtub.

For a moment they all just breathed and got their bearings.

"Th-th-thank you," gasped the drowned man, his thin chest heaving under the linen cloth.

"You're welcome," he replied. Reaching down Dr. Rodriguez lifted the man's eyelids with his fingertips, "I think I got you out just in time. Any longer and you probably would have needed to be resuscitated."

"Sorry about that Dorcas," apologized the red head.

Standing Dr. Rodriguez swiveled to look at the other drenched men and abruptly he recognized the brown haired man.

"Conrad?!" he yelped.

"You know this man, Weller?" demanded the blonde one.

"I—Dr. Rodriguez?" Conrad asked tentatively.

"The one and only," the triple black answered, placing his hands on his hips and leaning back appraisingly. "How did all of you get into Bob's bathtub?"

"Bob," Conrad said sharply, "Bob, as in the Earth Maou Bob?"

"Y-yes, but how did y—," suddenly it all made sense! The sudden appearance in the bathtub, their odd clothing, the swords, and Conrad's presence! It all led to one thing! "You're all from the Motherland!"

"Motherland?" said the other three dumbly.

"Yes, the Motherland! Where all the earthly Mazoku once came from!" the doctor rambled excitedly, "Though mind you there are demons that didn't come from there, but are native to earth, but they are of no relation to us. I have always wanted to go there you know? There is no earth Mazoku that doesn't _dream_ of going back to their roots at least once in their lives, and I am no exception. It's a crying shame the power to move between worlds left us long ago," he finished sadly, unaware of the now wary looks directed his way.

Y-you mean Shin Makoku?!" barked Dorcas.

Dr. Rodriguez sighed happily and nodded, even the name sounded beautiful.

"Dr. Rodriguez," Conrad started, the triple black's attention back to them, "This is Yozak, Daucauscas, and Wolfram. It is urgent that we see the earth maou immediately."

"Of course!" his dark eyes widening behind his glasses, "You wouldn't come here unless it was important." Turning away he headed with a new sense of urgency toward the door. "Follow me!"

The group glanced at one another before hesitantly following.

* * *

The trip to the Maou's private office was fleeting and soon the doctor and the drenched mazoku were standing under the scrutinizing gaze of the earth maou. Bob wasn't too surprised to have the Mazoku banging down his door. He'd hoped that maybe Shin Makoku could still call Yuri back to their world, but Arikura-no-baba must have used her tricks to keep Yuri ensnared.

"I assume this unprecedented audience has something to do with Yuri Shibuya," spoke Bob in a low baritone after introductions were over. His fingers were steepled, and his broad shoulders were tense under his expensive suit jacket.

"That is correct Earth Maou," Sir Weller inclined his head in acknowledgment of Bob's station. "Because of interference from this world, our high priestess Ulrike was unable to transport His Majesty to Shin Makoku. We were chosen to escort His Majesty back directly. The great nation of Shin Makoku would be grateful if you could assist us in finding our new king."

"The sooner the better," added Mr. Gurrier as his eyes darted about the room, eyeing the modern design warily. Perhaps, the streamlined glass furniture and concrete walls seemed outlandish to the Mazoku, but if they were dissuaded by his furnishings, Bob didn't know how they would survive Mt. Monsuta.

Bob sighed as he removed his sunglasses, and rubbed tiredly at his face. The skin around his icy blue eyes was heavily lined with stress. Much of that stress came from the Shibuya brothers.

"Bob," Dr. Rodriguez spoke tentatively. "Do you wish me to contact Shori—,"

"No," Bob interrupted. "The less Shori has to do with this situation the better."

"Who is Shori?" Demanded the youngest male, Lord Bielefield.

"Shori is my heir," Bob responded from his seat. "He is also Yuri's elder brother."

That drew some interest.

"If this Shori is part of His Majesty's family wouldn't he become involved eventually? Isn't he likely to notice if his little brother goes missing?" Questioned Mr. Gurrier, his voice laced with amusement.

"It is unlikely that he would notice, as Yuri no longer lives at home. He and Shori also share a very fractured relationship, in which, they go without speaking to each other for months at a time." The Earth Maou's voice was carefully blank.

Both Wolfram and Conrad seemed to recoil at his words. The others also seemed shocked but not to such a degree as the two. Maybe they are siblings, though Bob saw little resemblance.

"As my heir, I trust Shori to handle many of my duties," He explained. "But Yuri is not one of them. I will be handling this without his assistance. With any luck we will be able to complete this 'rescue' mission without involving Yuri's family."

The Earth Maou stood from his desk, startling the other people in the room.

"Bob! You mean to go with them?!" Dr. Rodriguez asked, astonished.

"That isn't necessary your Highness—," Sir Weller began hastily, but cut off when the man raised his palm and smiled congenially.

"Trust me, Sir Weller, when I say it is vital that I accompany you four on your mission. Despite your previous trip here eighteen years ago, you have no idea what dangers you will be facing when you venture into the wilderness where Yuri now resides."

Leaning over his desk the Maou pressed his index finger into a button and distantly a buzz was heard elsewhere in the building.

"Now," Bob spoke, as he slid his sunglasses back onto his nose. "You will be needing appropriate clothing for where we are about to go." Before he had even finished his sentence a handful of people flooded the room. They looked at the Maou and waited for a command. "Take the oriental collection out of storage and have my guests suitably dressed. Bring to me the black kimono." Bob turned his attention back to the foreign Mazoku. "If you would follow my assistants, they will outfit you in the appropriate garments. We will leave for Mt. Monsuta when you are ready."

Lord Bielefield looked like he was about to protest, but both Mr. Gurrier and Sir Weller hooked elbows with the blond and dragged him from the room while Mr. Daucauscas trailed behind meekly.

Everyone else had left the room, except Bob and Dr. Rodriguez, when the doctor spoke again.

"You know, you being there may be more detrimental than you not being there," he said carefully, "What with the bad blood between you and Arikura-no-baba."

The Maou sighed as he sank back into his chair. It seemed like he did nothing, but sigh these days.

"I know," he acknowledged quietly.

Knowing a dismissal when he heard one Dr. Rodriguez left the office to its last inhabitant. Bob sat in the silence for long minutes, before sliding open his desk drawer and pulling out a wooden box, the only wooden thing in the otherwise concrete and metal room. Lifting the lid up, he carefully extracted a flickering ball of spun glass. It shone like a small sun and was more beautiful than the most flawless diamond. It flashed brilliantly, and just like that, Bob was no longer alone in his office.

"Please give it back," A voice whined. Lying limply on the floor was a pale, yellow fox. "Please!"

Bob reminded himself that this was necessary, that the fate of his people was at stake, but the Yokai's heartbroken, miserable cries were nearly more than he could bare. He'd found the ball during his travels years ago, and had kept it for future leverage. When the Kitsune, whom the ball belonged to, demanded it back, the young Yokai had been so arrogant that Bob had felt no remorse in refusing. But now that the once proud trickster lay despondent and hopeless at his feet, he felt somewhat ashamed.

"I can't eat!" The fox-creature wailed, large, salty tears streaming across it's furred face. "Everything tastes like ash. I can't sleep, either! How can I, when all my dreams are in my Hoshi-no-Tama*? Cruel Mazoku, you hold my very soul ransom!"

"I'll give it back," Bob finally replied, his throat tight with regret.

"Please," the Kitsune pleaded, "It means nothing to you, but everything to me. I'd do anything to have it back!"

"I'll give it back," Bob repeated. "You can have it back if you help me and a few others receive an audience with Shibuya Yuri." The fox looked up from the floor blearily.

"Shibuya Yuri? You mean the Imperial Dragon?" The fox's tears disappeared and it leapt to its feet, lips pulled back in a snarl. "What are you planning to do to Yuri-sama!"

"We just want to speak to him," said Bob, trying not to show how startled he was at the drastic change in the fox's demeanor. Was it's sorrow just an act?

"Lying Mazoku!" The Kitsune snarled, its yellow fur standing on end. "I won't let you hurt Yuri-sama!"

"I have no intention of hurting Yuri!"

"Liar!" It howled, leaping at Bob with it's jaws open to bite. Without thinking, Bob raised his hand to blast the Kitsune with his wind maryoku, but the Hoshi-no-Tama was still in his hand and all of his maryoku was sucked into it.

"Ragh!" The fox screamed as it fell to ground. It screeched and writhed as if it were being attacked, but Bob had done nothing. Looking at his fist, Bob watched as the Hoshi-no-Tama's light brightened and then dimmed, darkening until it was held only a mere shadow of its former beauty. "No, no! Leave my ball alone, you Mazoku scum! I'll do it! I'll take you to Yuri-sama!"

Although Bob had no idea what he'd done to convince the Kitsune, he was not going to let this opportunity slip by him.

"You will take me and four other Mazoku to Yuri Shibuya, the Imperial Dragon. You will not try to sabotage us in anyway and you will guide us along the safest route. Swear it upon your ancestors."

"Yesss," the Kitsune growled, it's eyes glaring up at him in unadulterated hatred. "I swear it upon my ancestors. Now give it back! I'm no use to you without it."

Bob held out the Hoshi-no-Tama for the fox to take. The Yokai approached him suspiciously, as if expecting him to yank it back. Finally, the fox reached out and took the ball delicately in between his teeth. In a swift move the fox leapt back from him and jerked its head upwards, swallowing the orb.

As soon as the Hoshi-no-Tama was back in the fox's body, a shudder ran through the Yokai and the pathetic fox-creature, once again, became the regal Kitsune it was before. It's fur turned paler, and it's body grew until it was larger than a human. Its face became cunning, no longer dumb. Then the Kitsune stood up on it's hind legs, as if that were its natural state, and looked down at itself.

"Six years as an animal and I forget to wear clothing," It sighed. "What must my friends think of me?" From thin air the Kitsune pulled out a yukata and proceeded to drape the expensive red silk across its form. Then it looked at Bob, a cold fire burning in it's eyes. "Surprised, Mazoku? Did you think that I was little more that a speaking animal? You condemned me to madness when you stole my Hoshi-no-Tama. I should kill you for what you did to me." Its white fangs flashed threateningly as it spoke.

"You made an oath," Bob quickly reminded the Kitsune. He was beginning to think he had made a terrible choice when he made himself an enemy of this Yokai. When the fox had first demanded the Hoshi-no-Tama's return, not long after Bob had stolen it, he had assumed that the fox was just a weak Kitsune, not this Nine-tails.

"That I did," its mouth agreed, but its eyes promised vengeance. "You got an oath out of me when I was too dumb too refuse. I will fulfill that oath, have no doubt of that Mazoku. But know that as soon as our contract is null, you will reap what you've sown."

Bob hoped that Shori was ready to take his place as Maou, because at the end of this–no matter how it turned out–he was sure he would be dead.

* * *

Yuri rode the sky like he was snake gliding through grass. From this height the world seemed so small and unimportant.

A paper lantern floated past, and then another, and another, until the whole sky was lit by the whimsical creations. With a delighted gasp, Yuri wove in and out of the the floating lanterns until a great, whistling shriek cut through the night. The air beneath him exploding into color.

"Ah!" Yuri exclaimed, recoiling higher into the air, as another explosion sent red and gold sparks sizzling across the sky.

Fireworks, Yuri realized, his heart pounding in his chest. Beneath him, Mt. Monsuta was ablaze with thousands of lights.

_"There's gonna be a party back here with your name on it, in case things don't work out at home."_

"Tachi." Yuri smiled a dog-like smile. His long, pointed tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he dove through the swarm of lanterns and towards his home.

* * *

*Hoshi-no-tama- A ball guarded by a Kitsune which can give the one who obtains it power to force the Kitsune to help them. It is said to hold some reserves of the Kitsune's power. Another tradition is that the pearl represents the kitsune's soul; the kitsune will die if separated from it for long.


	6. The Worst of Poisons

**Author's Note:** The title of this chapter is based the japanese saying... "Wine is the best of all medicines and the worst of all poisons." I'd remember this title in the future. This hasn't been looked over yet, so there are probably some minor errors. Review responses are in your inbox.

* * *

The Dragon King

Chapter Six: The Worst of Poisons

* * *

When Conrad and his fellow mazoku returned to the Earth Maou's office, they were met with the sight of a creature they had never seen the likes of before. It resembled a wild sun-dog, a predator that was common in the desert, but it stood on two legs and was taller than Gwendal.

"What is that!" Daucauscas gasped. The creature turned to look at them and its face drew back in a cunning leer.

"My name is Myobu*," the creature spoke, revealing dangerous white fangs. "I'll be taking you to Yuri-kun."

"What are you?" asked Wolfram, his eyes darting up and down Myobu's form.

"Ah, yes," Myobu leered. "Bob told me you are from another world where my kind don't exist, the world all mazoku once came from." The creature seemed more interested in examining them than answering their questions.

"He is a yokai," explained the Maou. "They are a race of magical beings, much like mazoku."

"Heh!" The dog-faced Yokai hacked. Its muzzle wrinkled in, what Conrad could only assume, was disgust at being compared to the mazoku. Beside him, Conrad could feel Wolfram bristle at the insult.

"I see you didn't have difficulty finding appropriate clothing," rumbled Bob, he himself wearing a black and grey version of what Conrad was wearing.

Dorcas was wearing a brown samue*, the traditional clothing for japanese priests, as Conrad understood. Yozak wore what Bob's female attendant, Sharon, had called a junihitoe*. Even though she had explained that it was traditional court attire for a woman, Yozak insisted on it. It was a very complicated outfit, but was also very beautiful. The green and gold pattern complimented his friend's orange hair.

Wolfram had actually gotten into a fight with Sharon, calling the woman tacky. If Conrad hadn't interfered it might have turned physical even. The kimono that the prince had ended up with was different from the others in that it had very wide sleeves. Wolfram had picked it because it was blue and gold; much like his military uniform, but Conrad got the feeling that there was something wrong with it. Sharon had been far too snidely happy with Wolfram's choice.

"No difficulties," Conrad replied with a pleasant smile.

Bob grunted. "I doubt any of you would feel comfortable in a jet or a car. We'll use magic to travel instantly to Mt. Monsuta. I must warn you that we would be entering a very dangerous place, with no sure way of retreating."

"What is it that makes this mountain so dangerous?" asked Yozak, sticking his hands in their opposite sleeve.

"Mt. Monsuta," the Yokai, Myobu, replied. "Is the last refuge for Yokai left in Japan. In the past our populations were spread out along the islands, but when the humans, who had once co-existed beside us, began to turn from the old ways, the yokai turned from them. We began to mistrust and hate humans, so we isolated ourselves in the wilderness."

"Typical humans," Wolfram muttered, his arms crossed. Myobu, again, looked at the blond boy with interest. The creature's calculating stare made Conrad inch closer and more in front of his younger brother, subtly angling his body to shield Wolfram.

"It would seem normal to you," said Bob, "But for us earth mazoku it is a strange way of doing things. From the very start of our migration to this world we have lived and cohabited with humans peacefully. It is for that reason that the native demons of Japan have such little regard for our species."

Conrad quickly inserted himself in the conversation before Wolfram could make his hateful feelings for humans known.

"If they have so little respect for mazoku, why is Yuri living among them? Was he kidnapped?" Conrad's voice became sharp at the thought of Yuri being held against his will.

"Ha!" The nine-tails yelped.

"No," the Maou said carefully. "Yuri left of his own free will."

When the Maou said no more, Wolfram spoke out, having to raise his voice to be heard over Myobu's chortles.

"You have been being intentionally vague about anything that involves Yuri Shibuya. Why?"

"Because it is my fault it has come to this," Bob sighed, rubbing his eyes under his sunglasses.

"Yes, it was your fault, Bob," said Myobu lowly, "It was you and the Mazoku who broke your word, not us."

"I am aware of my own failures, kitsune!" The Maou snapped. "I do not need you to point them out!"

"What. Are. You. Hiding?!" Wolfram interrupted, hands clenched into fists and his green eyes hot with impatience.

"If it has something to do with His Majesty, we have to know," Yozak pointed out.

"Yuri," Bob hesitated, "is not a full blooded mazoku."

"What?" Wolfram gasped lowly.

"I already know that Yuri's mother is human," said Conrad, a little confused. Although some nobles like his brother would hold it against the young king, as long as Yuri was chosen by Shinou his heritage should not matter.

"If he is a half-breed, than he has no magic!" said Wolfram. "A magic-less Maou is completely useless!"

"Yuri-kun is far from magic-less, bishounen*!" Myobu snapped.

"There are exceptions to that rule, Yuri is one of them," Conrad sighed. Getting Wolfram to except Yuri would be hundred times more difficult now. He'd have to keep close eye on their interaction, for fear of Wolfram challenging the untrained king to a duel.

"Yuri's human mother had nothing to do with this. This was something none of us could anticipate," Bob paused, "What do you know of dragons?"

The confusion must have been obvious on the mazoku's faces. What did dragons have to do with the demon king?

"Dragons are large, winged reptiles that are also an endangered species," supplied Conrad, bewildered.

"I thought so," Bob muttered. "The dragons of Japan are very different from the ones of Shin Makoku," he explained. "They are sentient, and often have more wisdom than humans or Mazoku. Human legend actually states that a dragon taught humans how to become civilized. All dragons are revered by humans and yokai alike, but one is held in higher esteem than any other, and that is the imperial dragon."

"I still don't see how this has anything to do with the Maou."

"The Maou, Yuri Shibuya, is the imperial dragon," Bob's voice was solemn.

Almost as one the four blinked and then—

"WHAT!"

"How is that possible!"

"Is this a joke?!"

"Wha—,"

—All at once.

Bob waited for them to quiet down, once they were, Bob started to explain.

"It was very improbable–thought impossible–but it happened anyway. Imperial dragons, unlike a common dragon, do not physically reproduce. Instead, another is reborn fifty generations after its predecessor dies. If an imperial dragon mated, with say–a common dragon, the offspring would not be imperial. There is nothing specific about where, or to whom an imperial dragon can be reborn, but it is common for them to be born into human families. It was pure chance that Yuri was not only a Maou, but also a dragon.

"The yokai sensed Yuri's birth, and sent a representative to take Yuri away from his parents and back to Mt. Monsuta. You, Conrad, have met Yuri's parents. You know as well as I that they could not have survived having their baby stolen away." There was something in Bob's voice that begged for some kind of redemption, some acknowledgement that he had done what he had to.

"They would have been heartbroken," said Conrad softly. He remembered clearly the pride and excitement on Mr. Shibuya's face when they spoke about his unborn child, and Jennifer's love for her son had been undeniable in the gentle way she stroked her swollen belly. Bob was absolutely right. Losing their baby would have destroyed them.

"Yuri's mother, Jennifer, never knew, but I and his father made a deal with the yokai's consul, the witch, Arikura-no-baba. If Yuri's nature was never kept secret from him and we taught him as she would have taught him, then she would leave Yuri with his family until he was old enough to choose. I am embarrassed to say that I did not keep my word.

"Ten years ago, Arikura-no-baba found out about my dishonesty and tried to take Yuri away. I was able to stop her, but she came again after seven years. That time she was unstoppable and convinced Yuri to leave with her."

"She had seven years to plot," Myobu chuckled, but this laughter had a bitter taste that his previous outbursts hadn't. Reaching into his pocket with a paw-hand, he pulled out a thin, engraved pipe. The yokai put it between his whiskered chops and a wispy string of white smoke began to rise from its end. "Seven years to become a council member. As a consul, her powers were limited, but once she ascended to the council, Arikura-no-baba had the power to command the Night Parade."

"I had always wondered why it took her so long to try again," said Bob.

"What do you mean by 'Night Parade'?"

"I suppose the simplest way to describe it is an army of yokai," Myobu responded, exhaling a stream of smoke through his nostrils. The room was quickly filling up with the sweet-smelling fumes.

"How will–" Conrad hesitated, "–_this_ affect Yuri's ability to become our Maou?"

"Yuri being an imperial dragon means that he is an important part of high society at Mt. Monsuta, but as far as I know Yuri being a dragon will not affect his ability to be the Maou; however, it may be difficult to convince him to leave."

Yozak was skeptical. "Why would it be difficult? We are offering him our throne, why would he turn it down?" The rancor in the soldier's voice was evident. Conrad reached out and squeezed the other man's shoulder. He knew what Yozak had gone through in the last Human-Mazoku War, and he too had felt angry towards his uncle and his mother for their pride and negligence. It was soldier's like him and Yozak who had paid the most in that ill-conceived war.

"I have only spoken with Yuri four times," Bob smiled tiredly. "But it is clear to anyone who is looking for it that Yuri is a true king."

"What do you mean?" asked Daucauscas.

"He means that Yuri does not desire or seek out power for himself." Myobu interrupted, rolling the pipe to the corner of his mouth with his long tongue. "He will not be swayed by promises of riches, fame, or power. Yuri-kun is ruled only by a sense of justice that is instinctual for an imperial dragon. He is kind to people who have never known kindness. He is strong and will die to protect the ones who depend on him. He is merciful, and forgiving, even to those who know they don't deserve it." Myobu voice became harsh towards the end. "In short, he is the best thing to ever happen to the yokai, he is a gift from the Gods!"

The smoke trailing from Myobu's pipe thickened into a white fog, causing them all to choke.

"What is this!" Coughed Wolfram.

"Use your sleeves!" Conrad shouted, covering his mouth and nose with the silky sleeve of his new clothing. The cloth made it easier to breath, but the smoke stung his eyes so badly that he was forced to close them. The last sight before he did was of Wolfram doing the same. The others were too obscured to see.

"What is the meaning of this, kitsune!" Conrad heard Bob shout.

"I tire of these games, mazoku!" Myobu replied. "I won't let you plot for seven years, like that bitch, Arikura-no-baba! Our bargain was to take you and the other mazoku to Yuri-kun and I'll be doing just that!"

The smoke seemed to become a living thing, clinging to Conrad's body like sea creature clings a ship that it intends to drag under the waves. In the next moment, his stomach dropped beneath his feet as he and the others were lifted away.

* * *

"YURI-SAMA!"

The yokai roared his name as he descended, transforming so that when he landed, he did so on two feet. The cheers were deafening and the yokai rushed forward to encircle him in a crush of limbs.

"Happy birthday, Yuri-sama!" Nara, a kawauso*, shouted in his ear as it lifted him into a tight embrace. Soon he was being passed to Mei, a yamabiko*, who echoed Nara's greeting before passing him onto the next grasping pair of claws. Yuri found it funny at first, but he soon became quite uncomfortable in the tentacled embrace of an akkorokamui* that he didn't know and that seemed to have no intention of letting him go.

"Hey, Yuri!" Yuri recognized Tachi's voice, but when he tried to greet him, the akkorokamui latched onto the back of his head and attempted to smother him. "I didn't know you were into tentacle*!" The drunken yokai erupted into laughter at the kamaitachi's* raunchy joke. Yuri tried to retort, but his captor pressed his face further into its gelatinous body.

"What is this!" A woman's voice barked. "Release Yuri-san at once, you oversized sushi topping!"

The akkorokamui made a wet, whimpering sound, but finally released him. Blinking in surprise at the sudden influx of fresh oxygen, Yuri noticed that the flamboyant party had gone quiet. Many of the yokai had their eyes cast to the ground and those that didn't were wavering between the dirt and the space behind him.

Turning, Yuri saw that it was Nogitsune*, one of the seven council members and leader of the fox tribe. Her wildly curling hair was a deep, blood-red that was only matched by the color on her pouting lips. Her yellow eyes were the only thing that gave away that she anything other than an attractive woman. About her feet scampered a dozen or so one-tailed kitsunes, her closest underlings.

"Nogitsune-senpai," Yuri acknowledged, the stilted atmosphere making him feel awkward. "Thank you for rescuing me!" He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head, an awful nervous habit that Baba-sensei had yet to beat out of him. He couldn't help it though, Nogitsune always made him sweat.

"How could I not, Yuri-san?" The kitsune simpered. "I can't stand to watch you being manhandled by these ruffians."

"Ruffians!" The one-tailed kitsunes echoed derisively.

There were insulted growls behind him, but no one spoke up. Only the most powerful of yokai could become council members, and everyone knew the Nogitsune was not only powerful but vindictive. Any insult to her would not go unpunished. Even Yuri had to tread carefully around this wrathful demon.

"Yuri-san, you must come drink with us. There's no need to lower yourself to mingle with the commoners," Nogitsune reached out to touch his face, but Tachi pushed himself between them. His pinkish eyes glaring balefully at the woman.

"The only one common around here is you," Tachi spat, drawing both growls of approval and gasps of fear from the crowd.

"How dare you!" Nogitsune snarled, her beautiful face beginning to elongate into something monstrously similar to a fox's. Fearing for Tachi, Yuri did the first thing he could think of. Quickly stepping forward, Yuri seized Nogitsune's clawed hand and brought it to his mouth.

"I'd be overjoyed to join you for a drink, Nogitsune-senpai." Yuri carefully watched her face, praying to any god that was listening that this would work. Thankfully he had at least one god's ear tonight.

"Ah," Nogitsune bumbled, blushing spectacularly. "Well-um-let us leave this boorish crowd. Tesso and Tsukuba are around here somewhere."

"Yuri," urged Tachi, but the weasel quit when Yuri looked back at him and shook his head. He'd wanted to spend his birthday with his friends, but he was going to risk Tachi's life just to avoid accepting Nogitsune's invitation.

Nogitsune led him to a secluded pergola, where the council members Tesso and Tsukuba shared a bottle of sake. Tesso, a beady-eyed and thin-faced man, sat stiffly. Tsukuba, however, was laying on his side as he sipped his sake. His poor posture surely driving his drinking companion mad. Tesso only broke the withering glare he was sending to Tsukuba when Nogitsune and Yuri appeared at the pergola's entrance.

"Nogitsune-san," He acknowledged. "Yuri-san." His voice was nothing but perfectly even, but Yuri could always see the burning hatred in the yokai's eyes. Tesso had always hated him since the day they had met, but Yuri hadn't been able to figure out why until he'd asked Arikura-no-baba about it.

* * *

_"Tesso?" Arikura-no-baba laughed. "Many centuries ago, Tesso had only been a lowly human priest. When the temple cast him out for some crime, Tesso's hatred was such that he was able to become a yokai through pure malicious intent."_

_"I didn't know that was possible," said Yuri, awestruck. "Does it happen often?"_

_"Well, I should hope not!" Arikura declared haughtily. "Humans turned yokai are not right in the head. They're vicious and unpredictable. You must never turn your back on them, Yuri. They will stab it just because you turned it. Trust Tesso even less, his kind's nature alway shows itself when they become yokai."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"When Tesso's hatred turned him into a yokai, he changed into a hoard of rats." Her mouth twisted. "He laid waste to the temple that he'd grown up in, not only eating the other priests alive, but also destroying the holy items and temple records. In a moment of anger, Tesso turned on everything he'd ever loved and burned it to the ground. Just imagine what he'd be willing to do to someone he hated."_

_"Thats awful," Yuri denounced, feeling sick to his stomach. He knew that yokai had strange morals, but to eat your family alive? Clearly, even the yokai thought Tesso's actions were reprehensible. "But why does he hate me? I've never done anything to him!"_

_"His kind don't need a reason to hate." Arikura sighed when she saw Yuri's stubborn face. "I suppose that Tesso hates you because everyone loves you, in spite of your origins."_

_"What do you mean?" Yuri asked, confused._

_"In Tesso's mind, you and he are of similar circumstance. You were born from human parents, like him. You were raised, believing yourself to be human. To Tesso your origins are much the same and yet he is reviled by most Yokai and you are loved."_

_"So you're saying he's jealous of me?" said Yuri slowly. He couldn't wrap his mind around someone being jealous of him, the social outcast. "That's insane."_

_"Yesss, Yuri. I think you finally understand," His teacher stared at him intensely. "He is a powerful enemy, but worse, he is without reason. Treat him as the rabid dog that he is, and never trust him not to bite."_

* * *

Watching the hatred smolder behind Tesso's black eyes, it was no wonder that Yuri had never given the man his back.

"Tesso, Tsukuba," Greeted Nogitsune, who tugged Yuri along by the arm. "May we join you?"

"Of course," said Tesso, his voice as smooth as silk. If Yuri couldn't sense the madness inside the yokai, he never would have thought Tesso was anything more than what he appeared to be, an oily politician. "How could we deny ourselves your presence, Nogitsune-san?"

Nogitsune sat, elegantly folding her legs beneath her, even as she pulled Yuri down to sit closely beside her. From this angle he could finally see Tsukuba's morose face staring into his drink. The daitengu* looked pitiful with his unshaven face and baggy eyes. The yokai clearly didn't take good care of himself. While Nogitsune and Tesso chatted, Yuri reached out to touch the daitengu's shoulder.

"How have you been, Tsukuba-senpai?" He asked with concern. Despite the jokes he and Tachi made at his expense, Tsukuba was probably Yuri's favorite among the council. Tsukuba didn't care much about politics, but he was very gentle, despite his slobbish appearance.

At first, Tsukuba only looked at him with bleary eyes. He'd already had so much to drink that it took him a moment to recognize Yuri. He tried not to worry too much, it was a celebration, but Yuri couldn't help but fear for Tsukuba's health. The daitengu had suffered the most as the magical places in the world shrunk and his people with it. His brothers were already gone and all that was left of the tengu tribe was meager compared to the numbers they'd once had. Tsukuba was already depressed by the time Yuri had met him, but the daitengu had seemed to be getting better over the years. He had drunk less, bathed often, and had made attempts to attend council meetings regularly, but now looking at the yokai, it seemed as if all his progress had washed away.

"Fine, fine," The bird-lord muttered, his breath coming in short puffs, smelling strongly of spirits. "Fine, now that you're here Yuri-chan." Tsukuba's liquid black eyes stared dreamily up at him.

"Tsukuba-senpai!" Yuri hissed, feeling embarrassed, especially with Tesso watching them. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Heh, heh," Tsukuba laughed softly. "I suppose you did, Yuri-chan." Tsukuba continued to watch him with that heavy stare that never ceased to make him uncomfortable. He could never tell what the yokai was thinking and he wasn't about to believe Tachi's theories. Why would Tsukuba ever want him in that way?

Yuri looked away, trying to listen to Nogitsune's chatter when Tsukuba passed him a cup of sake. Greatly in need of anything that could make the time pass easier, Yuri wasted no time taking the cup and draining its contents.

* * *

*Myobu- The title given to a fox, who serves the goddess Inari, rather than playing tricks on people. The fox is typically yellow or white, and is consider a good omen.

*Samue- The traditional attire of monks.

*Junihitoe- Court dress for noblewomen.

*Bishounen- A term used for pretty boys, or men that could be mistaken for women. Being called a bishounen could be considered a compliment or an insult.

*Kawauso- A supernatural river otter.

*Yamabiko- A yokai that sits on the tops of mountains and shouts back what it hears. It's name means 'to echo'.

*Akkorokamui- A yokai that resembles an octopus.

*Tentacle- A type of pornography common in Japan that depicts a sexual encounter between an octopus and a woman.

*Kamaitachi- A sickle-clawed weasel that haunts the mountains. The yokai travels on gusts of wind and is lightning fast.

*Nogitsune- The title given to a mischievous fox. The fox is typically black or red, and is considered a bad omen.

*Daitengu- A leader of tengu demons. There used to be one of each mountain in Japan, but there is only one left now.


	7. The Ogre With an Iron Club

**Author's Note:** This chapter's title comes from a japanese expression... "He's an oni with an iron club." Meaning that person is strong beyond strong. This chapter is pretty long and I'm not sure if I've fixed all the typos and there are some parts I'm not quite happy with, but I think you guys have waited long enough. Enjoy.

* * *

The Dragon King

Chapter Seven: The Ogre With An Iron Club

* * *

Yuri's face was flushed and his vision blurry by the time he gathered enough sense to leave the celebration. He'd helped finish Tsukuba's bottle of sake and had drunk another one by himself. He felt a little unsteady on his feet and decided that it'd be safer if he didn't fly home. Perhaps if he wasn't so intoxicated, Yuri would have had the sense to find Tachi, but as it was, Yuri simply wandered into the forest, heading in the general direction of his home.

He hummed a song, his eyes closed in bliss as he danced under the trees, unaware of anything but the music only he could hear. His bare feet—Where were his shoes, anyway? Not on his feet was all that Yuri knew. His bare feet were almost floating above the earth, for all the weight he put in each step before he was spinning, leaping, and twisting again. And if a tree root tripped him, he fluidly transformed his motion into one that slid, rolled, or flipped.

When Yuri did finally fall it was in a clearing, and he'd tripped over nothing but air. Laughing as only a happily drunk man could, he fell to his bottom and then to his back. Opening his eyes, he was met the sight of a million spinning stars. Without thinking Yuri reached out with a bold hand and tried to grab ahold of that heaven, but he was too small to even have a hope of touching it.

His thoughts were too slippery to stay in his head for long, and he was soon forced to close his eyes to the dizzying affect of the universe. Yuri breathed slow, trying to get his mind in order, but the haze wasn't ready to lift. He was forgetting something, or rather wasn't noticing something, and that something was important. What was it? Then Yuri realized.

The animals had gone quiet.

The air shrieked as something of tremendous weight descended in a violent arch towards his head. When it struck the earth that Yuri had been laying in not moments before, the ground erupted in chunks of rock and sprays of dirt. Having rolled out of the way just in time, Yuri leapt to his feet and twisted his body in an arc, kicking the yokai who'd tried to kill him in it's stomach. The giant, red-skinned yokai grunted and stumbled back a few steps. It's blood-red eyes widening in surprise at Yuri's strength. Yuri himself, was amazed that he was able to make an oni* stumble. Oni were notoriously strong, but it seemed that Baba-sensei's training had paid off.

From the trees came two more male oni, though these oni's skins were of a duller maroon color compared to the first's scarlet hide. That meant that the first was the strongest of the three, and likely the leader, judging by it's possession of a kanabo*. The spiked, metal clubs were only carried by the leaders of oni bands.

Getting over his shock, the oni retrieved it's kanabo from were it had struck the earth and charged Yuri again, roaring ferociously. Still feeling dizzy and inebriated, Yuri twirled out of the oni's reach, but accidentally put himself in the path of the other two. He had to quickly dive beneath their grasping hands and nearly lost his balance until he twisted into a cartwheel.

"Wait! Wait, friend!" Yuri shouted, ducking beneath the first oni's swing. "Why do you attack me? Have I done you or your kin wrong?" Yuri knew he hadn't run afoul of any oni lately. The only reason he could think of was that Tachi had cheated some in a dice game a month ago, but Yuri had made Tachi give the money back.

"You've done myself nor my kin no wrong, dragon," the leader oni answered. "But the days are harsh and I have mouths other than my own to feed. Your head is worth much coin. Enough coin to buy my band years of prosperity!"

"Who would hire you to kill me?" Yuri asked dumbly.

"Who knows," shrugged the oni. "As long as the coin is good." The other oni had circled behind him, and without Yuri realizing it, he'd become surrounded.

"Wha–," Yuri hiccuped, swaying on his feet as the world tilted for a moment. "What's your name? Mine's Yuri Shibuya. If you're gonna kill me, I'd like to know your names." The three oni laughed, their long fangs flashing in the starlight.

"My name is Yuudai the Crimson," the oni leader bellowed, pounding his chest with one fist while the other lifted his club. "Leader of the Kimon Band! These are my kinsmen Kenta the Large and Daisuke the Thick. Die with honor Yuri the Shibuya."

Thinking quickly, Yuri knew that he was in big trouble. To fight an oni was hazardous enough, but fighting three oni was suicidal, particularly when you were as drunk as Yuri was. Just as the three oni were about to attack, a stupid, insane idea slid into his skull. It was an idea that only a drunken fool would go through with. Luckily, Yuri was both of those things tonight.

"I challenge you to a contest of horns!" Yuri shouted just as the kanabo was about to fall on his head, but his words froze the oni just in time.

"What did you say?" asked Yuudai slowly, disbelievingly. Who would believe that anyone other than an oni would know about that particular tradition? Who would believe that anyone other than an oni would be stupid enough to call for it?

"I, Yuri the Shibuya, challenge you, Yuudai the Crimson, to a contest of horns!" Yuri shouted, somehow remembering the words he'd thought he'd forgotten. "Be you hornless if you don't accept!"

"Can he do that?" Kenta or Daisuke muttered, Yuri couldn't see them because his eyes could not leave Yuudai's without forfeiting his right to challenge. The oni was startled at first, but as Yuri uttered the customary insult that followed a challenge, Yuudai bared his fangs and snarled.

"Challenge accepted! You will regret locking horns with me boy!" Yuri knew that Yuudai was required to insult him back, but he hardly thought the boy comment was fair, seeing as any yokai would seem like a boy when compared to a giant oni.

"But look how puny he is!" Daisuke jeered.

"His horns will snap like twigs," Kenta laughed.

Again, Yuri understood that it was tradition for kin to take turns jeering at the combatants, but it left a sour taste in his mouth as he was reminded him of his school days. Maybe it showed, because amazingly enough, Yuudai made them stop.

"Draw the circle and stop your blubbering!" Snapped Yuudai, surprising the hell out of Yuri.

"But, Yuudai–"

"Can't you idiots see the boy doesn't have any kin present to jeer at me? Keep your mouths shut and draw the circle!" Yuudai yelled, baring his fangs at the two until they snapped off tree limbs and drew a circle the encompassed most of the clearing.

"You're a really nice guy. Huh, Yuudai?" Yuri said, admiration in his voice. He wondered why such an honorable oni would take money to kill someone. True, it was said that an oni would do anything for a bit of coin, but Yuudai didn't seem like the type.

"Prepare yourself, Yuri the Shibuya," Yuudai growled, tossing his kanabo outside the circle. No weapons were allowed in a contest of horns. And then Yuudai tore away his loincloth and Yuri remembered that clothes weren't allowed either.

"Uh–"

"Now Yuri the Shibuya!" Yuudai snarled. "Or do you forfeit!?"

Of all the things he could have forgotten, Yuri thought as he began to strip. For a moment his confused fingers fumbled at his chest before he remembered that he still wearing the human clothes his mother had bought him. Yuri quickly finished undressing under Yuudai impatient glare. Thankfully, no one he knew was around to see him.

"This contest of horns can only end three ways," said Yuudai, rolling his neck so that his goat-like horns slashed the air. "When a combatant is pushed out of the circle. When any part other than a combatant's feet touches the earth. When a combatant forfeits. Do you understand?"

"I wouldn't have accepted if didn't," Yuri tried to sound sure of himself, but the affect was ruined when he swayed on his feet. What the hell was in that sake that Tsukuba gave him? Opium?!

"Then it begins."

With bellow, Yuudai bent his head down, displaying his thick yellow horns, and hurtled towards Yuri. Sending a brief prayer to any god that might be listening, Yuri pulled on every primal instinct he had buried inside of him. Then he matched the oni's roar with one of his own and charged.

* * *

When the smoke finally cleared, Wolfram found that he and the others were standing on a forest path. Disoriented, Wolfram spun wildly around, hardly believing how his surroundings had changed. Such a feat wasn't possible with maryoku. How had that dog-faced yokai done it?

"Where are we?" Daucauscas asked. The foot soldier's chest heaving in fear. Wolfram couldn't imagine why the man had enlisted in the army, he was obviously a coward. The poor man had probably been pushed into military service by a high-handed relative. When he got back to Shin Makoku, Wolfram would give who ever inducted him a thrashing. The military was a place for men willing to give their lives for their country, recruiting lukewarm soldiers wasn't good for anyone.

"Where are we, Myobu!" The Earth Maou shouted. Following the mazoku's gaze, Wolfram saw that the yokai was sitting on top of a tall shed-like structure. The structure was nestled snugly between the path and the forest and within it sat a grey statue of a sun-dog, or at least that's what Wolfram's best guess was. One of the ears were broken off and moss was beginning to grow up its legs. Even the building around it showed signs of abandonment. The red paint was cracked and peeled up from the wood, and leafy vines threatened to overtake the building. It was as if the forest was trying to swallow it back from whence it came.

"Kitsune!" Bob shouted again, but the yokai didn't seem to hear him as he looked beneath himself at the dilapidated shed.

"How?" It muttered. "How did the shrine fall into such a state? I may have been mad, but the others should have cared for it. She should have cared for all the shrines of Inari*."

Wolfram looked at the shed skeptically. This was supposed to be a shrine?

"If this is a shrine then it's to a god that has no followers," Wolfram spoke his thoughts out loud. The yokai looked stricken when he heard his comment.

"That's not possible," Myobu snapped, but it lacked venom. "All of the kitsune of Mt. Monsuta pay homage to the goddess Inari!"

"Perhaps things have changed," Bob said impatiently, "You can investigate after you've fulfilled your contract with me. Now I ask again, where are we?" The pure fury that lit in the yokai's eyes had Wolfram's hand reaching for his sword, but yokai only snarled before turning his back on them and facing the forest.

"We are obviously at one of the two shrines of Inari that are located on Mt. Monsuta. I can only transport myself between my goddess's shrines and her rice fields. I brought us to the eastern most shrine, the one closest to Arikura-no-baba's home. I'll guide you the rest of the way on foot." The yokai's voice was utterly hollow, sending a chill down Wolfram's back. Not for the first time, Wolfram wondered whether they should trust this alien being.

"Then please lead the way, Myobu-san," Conrad said in that congenial voice that he was always using to make others like him. That deceitfully pleasant tone made Wolfram grind his teeth.

"Heh," the yokai, Myobu, grunted. Then he jumped from his perch atop the ruined shrine and strode past them and up the dirt path. Wolfram watched Yozak and Conrad trade glances with each other, but he could not divine what information passed through that subtle exchange.

After hiking for a while, Wolfram became aware that they were being followed. He could hear a seventh pair of footsteps behind them. Conrad and Yozak had noticed too, and they all turned to confront the brigand.

"Who goes there?!" Wolfram demanded, he and the others reached for their swords even as they saw that their was no one behind them, only an empty path.

"Don't mind Betobeto-san*, he'll leave us at the fork in the road," Myobu called back to them nonchalantly. "He's just trying to get to the celebration." They were soon at a fork in the path, and sure enough the sound of footsteps passed them quickly and disappeared down the left pathway that snaked down the mountainside.

"What celebration?" The Earth Maou panted, wiping sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. The mountainous hike seemed to be taking its toll on the aging mazoku.

"I don't know," Myobu replied distractedly, "He didn't say. It must be a large one, though. I've noticed many yokai heading in the same direction as Betobeto-san." The yokai ears twitched about his head, hearing things that none of the mazoku could. "It's lucky that everyone is focused on the party, otherwise I'd have a much harder time getting you to Yuri-kun in one piece.

"It'd be best, though, to stay alert," Myobu continued. "We're very close to where everyone is gathering. Any yokai we encounter may be very drunk and feeling playful."

"Drunk and playful?" Asked Yozak. "How is that threatening?"

Myobu's only answer was a frighteningly evil smile.

As they continued up the mountain, even the mazoku began to hear the music and shouts of the yokai's celebration. Ahead of them, Myobu froze, his ears perked in the direction the party. Wolfram stopped to listen as well, and also heard a rustling coming from the trees.

"What is that?" Wolfram demanded.

"It sounded like–" Myobu's face scrunched in disbelief and then his muzzle opened wide in alarm. "Get down!"

**CRASH!**

A dozen creatures burst from the treetops and attacked. Drawing his sword, Wolfram swung at the creature lunging for him, but metal met metal and his sword was stopped before it could strike. Looking down its length, Wolfram was stunned when he saw his sword clenched between the blades of a pair of scissors.

"Yah-ha!" The strange, grey creature shouted at him.

"Oh, for the love of–Stop that you little cretin!" Myobu shouted behind him, but Wolfram was forced to quickly parry the creature's strikes before he could glance at the dog-yokai. "They're just kami-kiri*! Relatively harmless!"

"Harmless!" Wolfram shouted incredulously as he dodged the lightning-quick jabs of the scissors. The creature leapt at him again, but was snatched from the air by a furred hand. Myobu held the smaller creature up to his face and snarled. The kama-kiri's struggling ceased, looking at Myobu with watering eyes before it began to wail.

"Wah-ha! Wah-ha! Wah-ha!" It screeched, great watery tears streaming from its bulging eyes.

"Oh quit that!" Myobu snapped. "Have some dignity!" The kitsune dropped the screeching creature and allowed it to run back into the forest. He then proceeded to do the same to the kama-kiri attacking Conrad, Yozak, and Bob, but help came to late for Daucauscas. By the time Myobu had pulled the pack of yokai off of Daucauscas, the soldier's hair had been completely removed. The kama-kiri whooped and danced around them, happily stuffing their mouthes with Daucauscas's shorn hair.

"M-My hair!" The soldier cried, rubbing at his bare scalp in disbelief.

"It'll grow back," Myobu consoled the man distractedly as he drove the last of the cackling yokai into the forest. "Go on! Go home you miserable drunks!" One made a rude gesture before disappearing into the brush. "Why you little–"

Wolfram was trying desperately to keep himself from laughing and he turned to hide his smiling face, but only found air beneath his foot. During his fight with the kama-kiri, he hadn't even realized how close he'd come to the path's edge.

"WOLFRAM!" He heard his brother yell, just as he tumbled over the edge.

* * *

Wolfram fell so far and for so long, that he hardly felt it when he hit the ground, but what air he had left escaped his lungs in pained wheeze, and he couldn't get it back. It was as he was lying there, gasping for breath and knowing he going to die, that he saw it.

One of his eyes was swollen shut and the other one's vision was hazy, so he thought it was a deer at first. It's blurred face seemed to fill his vision as it hovered above his head, and then the most miraculous thing happened. It opened its mouth and breathed its sweet smelling breath on Wolfram face, and all of his injuries were healed. His eye unswelled, his broken bones mended, and the air was back in his lungs as if nothing had happened.

"How?" Wolfram whispered in awe as he sat up without any difficulties. Looking down at himself, he found that even his strange clothing was mended of the tears and stains that it surely must have accumulated during his tumble.

The deer—no, it wasn't a deer—hummed as it watched him with serene eyes. It resembled a stag, but it's body was covered in green and brown scales, and it possessed only one antler in the center of it's forehead.

"What are you?" asked Wolfram, reaching out touch its snaking neck. It hummed again before it stuck its neck under his arm and lifted him onto his feet. Surprised, Wolfram clung the the not-deer as it began to lead him into the trees. "Where are we going?"

It gave no answer, but Wolfram was unsure whether the not-deer could talk, so it might not mean anything at all. As the pair journeyed through the woods, Wolfram's feet felt peculiar and when he looked down he saw that both his and the creatures feet hovered a breath above the ground, so that their steps didn't bend a single blade of grass.

"Oh, Shinou." He swore softly and then they were running and Wolfram had no trouble keeping stride with fleet creature at his side. It was as if he was being sustained by whatever strange magic it possessed. Together they flew through the landscape, their feet never touching the ground, and Wolfram was filled a joy he hadn't felt since he'd reached adulthood and left such boyish fantasies behind.

* * *

Too soon, they had stopped at the edge of a clearing. Their bodies a breath above a cluster of small blue flowers. The strange beast looked at him with liquid black eyes. Waiting.

Hesitating, Wolfram dropped his arm from the creature's neck, and was dazed for a moment by a kind of queasiness not unlike seasickness, as his feet dropped back to the earth. Stumbling a few steps as his body struggled to come down from the high it had just been exposed to, Wolfram noticed the other creatures in the clearing. He was shocked that he hadn't noticed before.

Seeing three titanic figures occupying the meadow, Wolfram scrambled to hide himself behind a tree. Panicking, he tried to find the deer-like creature again, but it was already gone, empty air in its place. Wolfram tried to calm himself, he was a soldier after all, he shouldn't be cowed about anything. He peeked his head around the tree trunk and was once again struck by the sheer size of these men—no, these yokai.

They were at least twenty hands high, and their skins were varying shades of red. Each had a set of thick horns that curved out of a mane of black hair, but they were otherwise human in shape. Two of them wore loincloths to cover their nakedness but one did not.

He hadn't been noticed, but he wasn't so sure that he would remain so if he moved from his position. One of the yokai was not a stones throw from him and if it were not for the not-deer's ability to travel without sound, Wolfram would have never been able to get so close.

"This contest of horns can only end three ways," said the one not wearing a loincloth, it's voice loud and demanding of attention. "When a combatant is pushed out of the circle. When any part other than a combatant's feet touches the earth. When a combatant forfeits. Do you understand?"

Wolfram was confused as to who the yokai was speaking to, but then he saw the normal-sized, naked man standing opposite to the giant, like they were about to engage in some strange duel.

"I wouldn't have accepted if didn't," the man replied, his voice had a slight slur to it, as if he'd been drinking. Which was hardly surprising, since what man with his wits about him would challenge such a intimidating monster to a duel? To further prove Wolfram's theory, the man swayed on his feet a bit, as if he was having a hard time staying balanced.

What an idiot! Wolfram had half a mind to go and save the moron, if only so he could properly tell him how much of a moron he was, but then he saw the twisted set of horns that were attached to man's head. His eyes traveled down to see what other abnormalities this man might have, but quickly looked away as he saw more than any decent person had a mind to flaunt! What kind depraved person gallivanted about the forest undressed? Did these yokai have any shame?!

A mighty roar had Wolfram snapping his head back around, just in time to see the giant rush toward the other yokai with his head bent low. Expecting the other to dodge, he was shocked when the man matched the giant's roar with one that held equal ferocity, and charged head first into the others path.

**CRACK!**

Their horns locked together like two battling stags, and their hands came together to grapple. The smaller yokai was forced back a few feet, but held his ground afterwards, much to Wolfram's surprise. The giant yokai was so much larger and seemed to be stronger, but apparently size didn't determine strength for this strange race, because as he watched, the smaller man forced his opponent back a step. The other giants cheered their brother on, but didn't interfere.

The pair's muscles bulged and ran with sweat as they pushed at each other with their bodies and their wills. Wolfram mouth dropped open as he watched the smaller yokai begin to push the giant back inch by inch. With a furious roar, the giant broke away with a violent wrench. The man stumbled back and Wolfram feared the drink had finally gotten the better of him, but the horned man righted himself before he fell. The red yokai paced, his gaze never leaving the other yokai.

"You are stronger than I thought," the giant consented.

"You-hic-You shouldn't judge a person by their appearance, Yuudai the Crimson." The horned man spoke with effort. "The strength of a man lies in his soul, not his body."

"Soul? Soul!" The other giants laughed.

"If your strength comes from your soul, then Yuudai will crush it!" One boasted.

"Silence!" The giant, Yuudai, shouted. Strangely enough the giant seemed to be considering the horned man's words. "You say that strength comes from the soul, do you imply that us oni are lacking a soul? Perhaps you think my kind little more than beasts like the rest of your kin!"

"You possess a soul just as much as any being upon this earth," the man seemed affronted. "And no one, who I call kin would think of the oni as beasts!"

"Lies!" Yuudai snarled, baring his tusk-like fangs. "We know first hand that the council thinks of us as blood-thirsty dogs, why else would they throw coin at our band and expect us to murder you!"

Wolfram's breath froze in his chest as the tension in the clearing exploded.

"Liar!" The man screamed and dove at the giant. Yuudai met the smaller man's horns with his own, but the giant's words seemed to have enraged his opponent to the point of savagery. With unbelievable strength, the man locked their horns together and lifted the giant off his feet and tossed him into the air.

"Aargh!" The man roared. The giant fell to earth with crash that shook the earth. It was so unexpected that Wolfram fell out from behind his tree, but none of the yokai noticed. Wolfram could have thrown rocks at them and he doubted they would notice. The giants all seemed to be in shock and the man was consumed in a blind rage.

"He threw Yuudai from the circle," one of spectator giants breathed.

"And his body was forced to the ground," the other commented, his gaping mouth wide open.

The horned man turned and stalked toward his defeated foe, who was attempting to stand. He grabbed the giant by his horns and forced him back to the ground.

"Who sent you!" The giant tried to get up, but the man used his strength to keep the other pinned. "WHO SENT YOU!"

"I told you," Yuudai ground out. "The council paid us to kill you!"

"Lies!" He snarled. "Did you see them?! Did you speak with them?! Where is your proof!" The horned man twisted the giant's head into a position that had to be painful. The other giants tried to save their companion, but the man had only to glare at them with with his glowing black eyes and the pair were thrown away by a powerful gust of wind. Wolfram had to cling to his tree with both arms so that he wasn't slept off the mountain. The giants crashed into the trees and lay there, stunned.

Wolfram himself was amazed. That gust of wind was so similar to air-based maryoku, that it had even felt like maryoku!

"The proof is in the coin," Yuudai ground out, barely loud enough for Wolfram to hear. "Let me show you-" Wolfram couldn't make out the rest of the giant's sentence. If he had, perhaps he would have discovered the other yokai's name.

The man finally released the giant, whom slowly got to his feet.

"Kenta, Daisuke! Get up, and show him the coin," Yuudai ordered, and the other giants gingerly got up. One untied a purse from its side and tossed it so that it landed before the man and scattered fat, golden coins across his feet. Slowly, he leaned down and picked one up.

"Where did you get these?" Wolfram just barely heard him say. If he could see the man's expression, Wolfram was sure that it would be one of great disturbance.

"The shadow came and offered much coin for your death. We did not discover the shadow's identity until we looked closely at the coins and found the imperial dragon stamped on one of its sides," said Yuudai and something about his words sparked recognition and Wolfram's mind. The imperial dragon? Wasn't Yuri Shibuya an imperial dragon? What was his connection to this? There were too many questions and not enough answers. Wolfram had half a mind to waltz into the clearing and demand some answers, but self-preservation kept him back.

"Coins that only I and the council possess in such quantities," the man said, his voice dull. "But if a council member intended to kill me in secret, why would they use coins that were so recognizable?" The horned man began to sway violently.

"What ails you, Yuri the Shibuya?"

Wolfram inhaled sharply, clenching his teeth together to keep himself from making any noise. The giant had called the man 'Yuri the Shibuya'. Yuri Shibuya was the name of the next maou. This couldn't be a coincidence. This savage yokai was supposed to be his king. He had known that the maou would be a half-breed, uneducated, bumpkin, but this was too much!

Even as Wolfram raged inside his head, Yuri Shibuya sank to his knees. Wolfram couldn't hear his words, but the half-breed must have said something, because the giant replied.

"My honor would not be restored if I were to strike you down in a moment of weakness," Yuudai spoke. "You are a strong ram, Yuri the Shibuya. It would be a waste to kill you for a bit of coin."

Despite the giants words, Wolfram nearly jumped from his hiding place when Yuudai reached for the fallen maou, but he only lifted Yuri into his arms, like a mother cradling a child.

"Like I said before, Yuri the Shibuya. I can only regain my honor by defeating you while you are in fighting condition. I will take you to a healer, so that you will get better. Then, I can defeat you and regain my kanabo."

"Take me to Arikura," Wolfram was finally able to hear Yuri Shibuya speak. "And you can have the kanabo back. I'd look silly carrying it, anyway..." The maou's voice faded away as his body went limp in the giant's arms.

"I'm afraid its not so simple, Yuri-sama." Yuudai began to walk away and the other two giants followed. Wolfram was unsure whether he should try to stop them, or let them go. On one hand, the whole reason they were in this strange land was to find Yuri Shibuya, but on the other, Shibuya needed a healer and the other yokai seemed to be taking him to one. If Wolfram stopped or delayed them, then Shibuya could die. Did he want the half-breed to die? Yes, he was surely not even a half-decent candidate for maou, and yes, if he were to die then the way would be clear for Gwendal to obtain the throne, but did Yuri Shibuya deserve to die?

Before Wolfram was even close to making a decision, they were gone.

"Bishounen!"

Wolfram gave an undignified squawk as a whirled around, his hand leaping to the sword at his hip, but it was only Myobu who stood behind him, staring down at him with mild annoyance.

"It took forever to find you! How did you get so far from the bottom of the cliff?" The dog-faced yokai leaned forward to sniff at him with a quivering, wet nose. "And in such fine condition?"

His lip curling up, Wolfram quickly backed away from the yokai, who seemed to know nothing so proper as boundaries and manners.

"A strange deer-like creature found me at the bottom of the cliff and healed my injuries, that is the only reason I'm not dead, and then the creature brought me to this place," Wolfram snapped. Before he could reveal that he had found the errant maou, Myobu took a step back and looked at him oddly.

"A deer, you say?" The yokai's yellow eyes stared openly at him. "What did it look like? Did it stand above the grass, not bending a single blade?"

"Y-yes," Wolfram confirmed, caught off guard. He hadn't been planning on telling anyone about that, he was sure that he had dreamt it. "It only had one antler, in the center of its forehead, and it was scaled like a fish. Moss grew from its back."

"The kirin*," Myobu breathed, with awe and reverence. "It was here. . . It brought you here. Why?" Though Myobu didn't seem to be expecting an answer, Wolfram provided one.

"Yuri Shibuya was in this clearing, along with three red giants. He and the largest one fought. Shibuya won, but they kept talking about 'the council' and how they were sent to kill Shibuya. Shibuya fell to the ground, ill, and the giant he defeated offered to take him to a healer. Shibuya said to take him to 'Arikura'."

"Yuri-kun was here?" Myobu asked, walking farther into the clearing. "Yes, I can smell him." He stopped before a giant, spiked club that was imbedded in the ground.

"That's what I said," Wolfram snapped, annoyed that the yokai wasn't paying attention. Myobu reached out to touch the iron club, but red static leapt out to shock his paw, preventing him from touching it.

"And he won a kanabo away from its oni. Yuri-kun is incredible," the yokai breathed with awed admiration. Its chops pulled into a smile, his long tongue lolling out. Myobu turned back to him. "What was your name, bishounen?"

"Wolfram," he glared balefully at the yokai. "My name is Wolfram von Bielefield."

"Wolfram-kun," the yokai grinned. "Shall we rejoin the others, Wolfram-kun?"

"And how are we to do that?" Wolfram snapped, annoyed at the condescending way the yokai was speaking to him. "We have no horses and the others are half way up the mountain!"

"You have little faith, Wolfram-kun," Myobu spoke sweetly. "And we have something better than horses."

"What?" Wolfram asked warily, thinking of that strange transportation magic that made his stomach twist.

"A kitsune!" Myobu chirped, his dog-like smile looking quite malevolent in the shadows of the forest.

* * *

*Oni- hideous, gigantic ogre-like creatures with sharp claws, wild hair, and two long horns growing from their heads. Their tribes are determined by the color of their skin, red and blue are particularly common. The strongest oni carry a kanabo, which makes them nearly unstoppable.

*Kanabo- A solid, iron club that is often spiked or knobbed. Shaped like a baseball bat.

*Inari- A goddess of fertility, rice, agriculture, industry, and foxes. Foxes often serve as her messengers.

*Betobeto-san- An invisible yokai that follows travelers on lonely roads. The sound of its footsteps tends to scare travelers, but it is harmless.

*Kama-kiri- Scissor wielding yokai that cut their victim's hair and eat it.

*Kirin- A mythical creature that is revered in asian culture. It is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a wise sage or an illustrious ruler. It walks without bending a single blade of grass.


End file.
